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Reports on the proposals and plans by the Pentagon to reduce funds and allocations for the F/A-22 fighter jet to respond to costs in their operations in Iraq. Spending requests for the fiscal year 2006 budget; Controversies in reducing the country's federal deficit; Indications of military policy and public administration.

Reports on the U.S. General Accounting Office's declaration that military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are running 12.3 billion dollars over budget in 2004 and that Pentagon officials are trying to make up for the shortfall by transferring money from other accounts and delaying refurbishment of worn-out equipment in Iraq. Office's estimate of the shortfall; Administration officials' acknowledgement that costs in Iraq are running higher than the amount approved by the U.S. Congress.

The article reports that U.S. federal investigators are examining records associated with $6 billion in contracts associated with the Iraq War. As of September 2007, they have filed civilian charges against 29 soldiers and civilians stemming from fraud and kickback schemes. The Department of Defense has reorganized their procurement procedures in response to the scandals.

The article reports that spending by the U.S. Pentagon will triple in 2006, in an effort to combat the increasing number of powerful and sophisticated homemade bombs in Iraq. Such bombs, say military officials, are the number one killer of American troops. The move is an acknowledgement that despite years of rising death tolls from the bombs, the response has not been adequately coordinated at the highest levels. The Defense Department will double the number of intelligence, technical and forensic experts assigned to the problem. The response comes after attacks with makeshift bombs doubled in Iraq.

Reports that the U.S. Pentagon is struggling to replace body armor that is failing to Protect American troops from the most lethal attacks by insurgents in Iraq. How tens of thousands of soldiers are still without stronger protection because of delays in the Pentagon's procurement system; Disclosure of the new armor effort by U.S. officials, who acknowledged that it would take months longer to complete; Background on the effort to replace the armor, which began in May 2004; Why body armor remains critical to the military's goals in Iraq; Problems contributing to the delays in getting the stronger body armor; How, throughout the war, the military's procurement system has struggled to stay ahead of the insurgency.

Senate Democrats in the U.S. challenged military service top civilian officials on their inability to estimate FY05 costs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and questioned the Pentagon's ability to pay for them with FY04 funds. Acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee expressed concern over the Army's spending roughly $3.7 billion per month in Iraq and $900 million in Afghanistan. Navy Secretary Gordon England said that the cost of sending Marines to Iraq was not accounted for in FY04. Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim said before the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that the Iraqi Freedom Fund, a $1.9 billion supplemental spending package, is fast dwindling.

The article reports on the decision of the U.S. Senate to pass a defense bill amounting to 626 billion dollars on October 6, 2009. A provision that restricts any transfer of accused enemy combatants from the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into the U.S. is also included in the bill. It mentions that the underlying bill combines 128 billion dollars for overseas military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with 498 billion dollars for the rest of the budget of the Department of Defense.

The article reports that U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton has secured House approval for an amendment to the FY09 defense authorization bill that he hopes will serve as a critical first step toward improving interagency coordination in Iraq and Afghanistan. Skelton's amendment would establish a 12-member panel to review how the Defense and State departments, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, collaborate on overseas national security issues.

The article reports that U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton said that he hopes to insert language into the FY09 defense authorization bill to require more cooperation between federal agencies doing work in Iraq and Afghanistan. Skelton acknowledged that his committee's markup of the authorization measure, will be just the first step in a long debate that will involve several congressional committees.

The article reports on the support of Democrats for an option of advancing more money for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan as a way to ease the strain on the Pentagon. The author claims that the Afghanistan measure could avoid impasse over Iraq funding. It is stated that about $30 billion of the Pentagon's $190 billion spending request before Congress is related to Afghanistan.

The article reports that the U.S. Senate has approved a nonbinding amendment to the FY08 defense authorization bill calling for the creation of a federal system of government in Iraq with regions divided along ethnic lines. The amendment, sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, received the support of 75 senators after some last-minute changes made clear that the language is not intended to infringe on Iraq's sovereignty.

The article reports on the approval by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee of a $459.6 billion funding bill for the Department of Defense. The funding bill may serve as a bargaining chip for the budget argument between the Senate democrats and the government. The bill will generate an increase of nearly $40 billion for military programs in the fiscal year starting October 1, 2007. The Senate hopes that the bill will not be affected by amendments related to the war in Iraq.

Reports that the U.S. military plans to invest tens of billions of dollars in automated armed forces. The Pentagon's prediction that robot soldiers will be a major fighting force in the American military in less than a decade; Features of robot soldiers, which will think, see and react increasingly like humans; How the ultimate ideal of unmanned warfare is combat without casualties, according to Pentagon officials and military contractors; The growing demand for armed bomb-disposal robots in Iraq; Prototypes; Overview of the Pentagon's Future Combat Systems project; Question of how realistic the Army's timetable is for the project, currently in the first stages of development. INSET: Futurre Fighting Force.

Reports that the United States Senate has approved a budget for the government's military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Amount allocated to the Department of Defense; Number of senators that approved the budget; Senate's decision to increase control on how the government will spend the money.

Reports on the United States (US) Congressional ratification of a $250.5 billion Pentagon budget to finance covert operations against President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Clearance sought after by the US House; Context of the bill; Details on other spending agreements.