OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Hagel defends budget on Capitol Hill

by Jeremy Herb and Carlo Muñoz - 04/11/13 9:58 PM ET

House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) asked Joint Chiefs
Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey whether he still agreed with his statement that
the military couldn’t take any more cuts, given the reductions in the budget.
Dempsey said he did because the cuts were backloaded to give the Pentagon time
to prepare for them.

At the hearing, McKeon did not ask any questions of Hagel, whom he opposed during the confirmation process.

{mosads}Hagel defended the department’s proposals already facing
stiff opposition in Congress, in particular a request for a new round of base
closures.

Several Democrats pressed Hagel about the necessity of a new
round of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC), as did Rep. Rob
Wittman (R-Va.), chairman of the Readiness subcommittee.

“Is this really the right time to do a BRAC, especially based
on the recent history of the cost of BRAC and the time to accrue savings?”
Wittman asked. “In the face of budget constraints, is this the right time to
pursue a BRAC?”

Hagel started his defense by saying that Wittman was asking
“the right question.”

“I understand the politics of this,” Hagel said. “I
understand, as I said in my opening comments, it’s very imperfect. … And still,
I think it’s an important time to do it. I think it’s worthwhile to do.”

Obama tells North
Korea to knock off belligerence: President Obama said Thursday it was time
for North Korea to
end its “belligerent approach” and that no one wants to see conflict
in North Korea.

His comments came after Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.)
disclosed an unclassified version of a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report
that said North Korea could have nuclear weapons that can be delivered with
ballistic missiles.

Lamborn read from the unclassified portion of a March DIA
report assessing North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

“DIA assesses with moderate confidence the North currently
has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles, however the
reliability will be low,” he said, quoting the report.

Lamborn asked for a response top the report from Dempsey at
the House Armed Services hearing Thursday, but Dempsey declined to comment on
it.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the
House Intelligence Committee Thursday that Pyongyang is taking “initial steps”
toward launching a nuclear weapon with a ballistic missile.

Intel director discloses drone
ops in Libya: Pentagon-run aerial drones were conducting
surveillance in the skies above Libya prior to the deadly assault on the U.S.
Consulate in Benghazi last September, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper disclosed on Thursday.

It is the first time a U.S. intelligence official has
publicly acknowledged Pentagon or CIA drone operations in Libya prior to the
terrorist strike on the consulate last year.

The unmanned aircraft in Libya last year were operated under
the Defense Department drone program and only for surveillance purposes,
Clapper told members of the House Intelligence Committee. The drones “flying
over Libya were military and were unarmed,” he added.

Clapper’s admission sparked questions by Rep. Michele
Bachmann (R-Minn.) on whether armed American drones had been sent to Libya
prior to the Benghazi attack.

“I’m just wondering if the State Department or if the
military was aware or if the CIA was aware,” she asked, about the
possibility of armed drone strikes in eastern Libya.

CIA Director John Brennan, though, declined to provide further
details on whether U.S. drone operations in Libya before the Benghazi attack
included airstrikes.

“I don’t know what it is specifically you’re
referring to, but … I would defer to the White House on whatever happened at
that time,” Brennan told Bachmann.

News reports last year suggested the diplomatic mission of
the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was a cover for a large-scale CIA intelligence
operation inside Libya run out of the State Department facility.

The Obama administration initially claimed the Benghazi
attack was the result of an anti-American protest gone wrong. Only weeks later
did the administration acknowledge the strike was a planned, coordinated
attack by Islamic extremist groups in the country.

Syrian chemical
weapons security in doubt: As Congress continues to press for military action
in Syria, intelligence officials on Thursday focused on the possible
consequences of those actions.

Clapper and Brennan on Thursday told members of the House Intelligence Committee they were
unsure whether U.S. and allied forces can secure Syria’s vast stockpiles of
chemical and biological weapons if embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad is
overthrown.

“It would be very, very situational dependent … to
render an assessment on how well we could secure any or all of the [weapons]
facilities in Syria,” Clapper told committee chief Rep. Mike Rogers
(R-Mich.). “I’m not sure how to make a call like that,” he
added.

Securing Syria’s weapons stockpiles is a major concern for
the Pentagon and intelligence community since Assad threatened to use those
arms against rebels fighting to overthrow the longtime leader.

But with Damascus losing ground to Syrian rebels in the
two-year civil war, concerns are rising these weapons may end up in the hands
of Islamic extremists fighting alongside anti-government forces.

His comments came the same day Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said the Obama administration should begin
arming anti-Assad rebels.

Menendez joined fellow Democrat Sen. Carl Levin (Mich.) and
Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in calling for
direct U.S. military support for Syrian rebels, from arming those forces to
establishing a no-fly zone along the country’s border with Turkey.

But Gen. Philip Breedlove, the White House’s pick to head
up European Command, said a no-fly zone along the Turkey-Syria border would
hold “no military value,” during his Senate confirmation hearing on
Thursday.