Reading the NDAA Tealeaves

some good, some head-tilting, some left in conference

Editorial note: own goal on my part. In the first published draft of this, I pulled CRS FY 2023 graphs and prattled on thinking CRS already turned around FY 2024’s. I should have caught that, but alas I am not a perfect man. As such, I’m going to pull that out and stick with the reporting summary. I’ll will wait for the actual FY 2024 CRS report to come out, then comment.

If nothing else, mistakes like this make you humble, and I need more humility, so net gain. It also can make you paranoid, but that is helpful too.

Many thanks to readers for pointing this out to me. I shall pray on my imperfections.

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Some cliches are so accurate that they need to be un-ironically repeated as often as possible. One such example is;

You show me what you spend your money on, and I’ll tell you what your priorities are

I could spend all week just picking apart the NDAA, but … no.

Instead, I’ll let you plow through it in all its glory if you so wish. There are some aspects I’ll bring up on Thursday though…

Until then, let’s see what the press is reporting on it. The Hill is always useful to see what is of greatest concern to the DC nomenklatura. What do they have to say?

Of note:

• The revamped bill doesn’t contain an amendment the House GOP passed earlier this year to block the Pentagon’s new paid leave policy for service members traveling for abortions.

• Also missing are amendments from the House-passed bill that sought to block the Defense Department from funding drag shows, gender-affirming health care for transgender service members and the purchase of books with certain LGBTQ themes for the department’s school system.

• House Republicans did get some COVID-19 provisions they wanted. The bill orders the department to consider reinstating service members who were discharged for not getting vaccinated if they request reinstatement.

Of course; abortion uber alles, and by all means we need military-sponsored drag shows, military facilities should be sterilizing men and women and then signing them up for expensive and unending medications on the government dime - not to mention all sorts of issues when they decided to de-transition, and DOD schools to be pushing what is in effect gay pr0n for children. I’ve seen the books. That is exactly what they are.

This is what happens when you nominate unelectable candidates for very competitive Senate seats and you lose the Senate. Elections have consequences.

As expected, DefenseOne is focused on the actual military aspects of the NDAA as opposed to The Hill’s fascination with the ongoing use of military money to support domestic cultural politics.

Congress will greenlight the transfer of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, …lawmakers have given the U.S. Navy approval to sell three Virginia-class submarines to Australia.

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In other Navy news, lawmakers also moved to:

• Buy another amphibious ship.

• Save four of the eight warships, three LSDs and one cruiser, the Navy hoped to retire before the end of their intended service life.

• Establish the nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile as an official program of record, despite multiple attempts from the Biden administration to kill the program.

• Allow the Navy to cut its carrier air wings down to nine.

• Give the Navy the authority to purchase up to 13 Virginia-class submarines in the next block contract.

• Ask the Navy to conclude contract negotiations on 20 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets “as soon as possible.”

Yes, the cutting air wings down to nine is a flashing red light. We should be growing, not shrinking air wings … but Navy TACAIR has been destroying their reason for being for over three decades now, why stop?

There’s the quick looks.

For the record, a lot of credit needs to go to the House and their staffers. They tried hard to push back on a lot of the incredibly corrosive culture war items in DOD, but the Senate blocked them.

You have to try. Some victories were had, but a lot was lost in conference.