OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Pentagon details deep sequester cuts

In an effort to highlight the effect the cuts are having on
the military, Hagel said the Pentagon will begin submitting two versions of its
annual budget plan to the White House over the next four years, beginning in
2015.

The Pentagon released its sequester plan ahead of a House
Armed Services Committee hearing on the department’s plans to deal with the
across-the-board cuts.

{mosads}Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Vice Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. James Winnefeld will defend the department’s sequester plan
during the hearing, scheduled for Thursday.

The potential cuts could used by defense-minded lawmakers to
try and convince their colleagues to avert the sequester. But thus far there’s
been little movement in Congress to try to avert the cuts.

President Obama told Senate Democrats on Wednesday that any
reductions to the defense sequester would have to be coupled with equal
reductions in cuts to domestic discretionary programs. 

McKeon: ‘No feeling
of hopefulness’: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.)
sounded a pessimistic note on Wednesday over the Pentagon’s budget proposal
after getting briefed on the plans.

“I left with no feeling of hopefulness,” McKeon told The
Hill Wednesday.

In his public statement in response to the review, McKeon
said that the potential cuts made clear that sequestration will “cause
catastrophic readiness shortfalls.”

He also criticized it as a “budget-driven” exercise that
didn’t address the underlying strategy issues that would result from a smaller
budget.

House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.),
meanwhile, chastised lawmakers over the review, saying that Congress was
“abdicating its constitutional responsibility to responsibly fund the military”
by allowing sequestration to continue.

Smith called for Congress to
lift the sequestration cuts on the military without replacing them, a plan
that defense hawks might support but would not pass muster with the fiscal
hawks in Congress.

Besides McKeon and Smith, there were few statements coming from lawmakers in reaction to the Pentagon’s potential cuts.

Obama to meet with
lawmakers on NSA: President Obama will be
meeting with key lawmakers on both sides of the National Security Agency debate at the White
House on Thursday to discuss its surveillance programs, according to a White
House official.

The meeting is occurring as the Obama administration is
trying to ease growing concern from lawmakers about the reach of the telephone
and Internet surveillance programs.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
de-classified new documents about the phone surveillance activities on
Wednesday, and NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander will
answer lawmakers’ questions at a classified briefing Thursday on Capitol
Hill.

Obama addressed the NSA programs at his meeting with Senate
Democrats on Wednesday, saying that he would address lawmakers’ concerns.

“He’s willing to get together with members who are
concerned about it and try to talk about a potential way forward,” said Sen.
Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

The group of lawmakers heading to the White House includes
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who have been outspoken
critics recently of the NSA programs, as well as Senate Intelligence
Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and ranking member Saxby
Chambliss (R-Ga.).

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will also attend, as will House
Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), ranking member Dutch
Ruppersberger (D-Md.) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), the original author
of the Patriot Act.

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who authored last week’s amendment
to curb the NSA’s powers that narrowly failed, does not appear to be invited.

McCain threatens
funds for new Marine One: One lawmaker is threatening to clip the wings of
the Pentagon’s latest Marine One replacement program before it gets off the
ground.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) vowed “to keep very close
watch” on how the Navy proceeds with its plans to select a manufacturer to
build the prototype helicopter, known as the VXX.

“We can cut off funding if we think [the selection] is
unsatisfactory, before it gets into production,” McCain said.

Pentagon leaders plan to buy 21 new presidential helicopters,
and expect to have the first aircraft in the field by 2020, according to Navy
spokeswoman Capt. Cate Mueller.

She declined to comment on the total anticipated price
tag.

The Pentagon’s last attempt to build a VXX prototype failed
due to skyrocketing costs from a slew of design requirements added by Department of Defense and
White House officials.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates pulled the plug on the
program in 2009, after congressional scrutiny over the numerous delays and cost
increases reached a fever pitch on Capitol Hill.

At the time of
Gates’s cancellation, program engineers were only able to build nine aircraft after
spending billions in taxpayer dollars.

That said, McCain noted the lack of competition on the VXX
program could be a deal breaker, and argued the Navy’s decision reflects the
service’s “abysmal” record in getting a Marine One replacement in the
skies.

“The last [attempt] ended up being more expensive than
Air Force One,” he said, referring to the president’s personal plane.

In Case You Missed
It:

— Rep. Smith: Just ditch
sequestration

— Playboy, Penthouse pulled
from military shelves

— Lawmakers summoned to classified NSA meeting

— Kerry in Pakistan to talk drone strikes

— Special ops commander briefs panel on Benghazi

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