John M. Donnelly
@johnmdonnelly.bsky.social
Senior defense writer, CQ Roll Call. National Press Club leader and sports nut (DC and Baltimore teams +#H2P). http://johnmdonnelly83.journoportfolio.com
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
NEW: The agency that oversees US nuclear weapons is paying all its contractors through November—but none of its government employees. A feared downgrade of operations to minimal functionality is being averted.
October 28, 2025 at 10:41 PM
NEW: The agency that oversees US nuclear weapons is paying all its contractors through November—but none of its government employees. A feared downgrade of operations to minimal functionality is being averted.
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
NEW: The Pentagon has told appropriators it will pay US troops on Friday by tapping unspent appropriations again, as it did Oct. 15. Everyone wants to pay the troops, but unilaterally moving appropriations without Hill input is illegal, critics say.
October 28, 2025 at 10:41 PM
NEW: The Pentagon has told appropriators it will pay US troops on Friday by tapping unspent appropriations again, as it did Oct. 15. Everyone wants to pay the troops, but unilaterally moving appropriations without Hill input is illegal, critics say.
NEW: The Pentagon has told appropriators it will pay US troops on Friday by tapping unspent appropriations again, as it did Oct. 15. Everyone wants to pay the troops, but unilaterally moving appropriations without Hill input is illegal, critics say.
October 28, 2025 at 10:41 PM
NEW: The Pentagon has told appropriators it will pay US troops on Friday by tapping unspent appropriations again, as it did Oct. 15. Everyone wants to pay the troops, but unilaterally moving appropriations without Hill input is illegal, critics say.
NEW: The agency that oversees US nuclear weapons is paying all its contractors through November—but none of its government employees. A feared downgrade of operations to minimal functionality is being averted.
October 28, 2025 at 10:41 PM
NEW: The agency that oversees US nuclear weapons is paying all its contractors through November—but none of its government employees. A feared downgrade of operations to minimal functionality is being averted.
NEW: A White House official, asked about Trump’s position on the Graham-Blumenthal Russia sanctions bill, tells me: “Any sanction package must provide complete flexibility for the president to continue to pursue his desired foreign policy.”
October 24, 2025 at 1:24 AM
NEW: A White House official, asked about Trump’s position on the Graham-Blumenthal Russia sanctions bill, tells me: “Any sanction package must provide complete flexibility for the president to continue to pursue his desired foreign policy.”
NEW: The government shutdown is already adversely affecting readiness, the Pentagon said in a document sent to Capitol Hill Monday and viewed by CQ Roll Call. “Critical exercises have been delayed or canceled,” including those “to deter China,” it said.
October 23, 2025 at 1:04 AM
NEW: The government shutdown is already adversely affecting readiness, the Pentagon said in a document sent to Capitol Hill Monday and viewed by CQ Roll Call. “Critical exercises have been delayed or canceled,” including those “to deter China,” it said.
‘Dangerous Cities,’ the Military, Trump and the Founding Fathers www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/u...
‘Dangerous Cities,’ the Military, Trump and the Founding Fathers
www.nytimes.com
October 2, 2025 at 1:54 AM
‘Dangerous Cities,’ the Military, Trump and the Founding Fathers www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/u...
EXCLUSIVE: In just the last four years, lawmakers added—mostly anonymously & behind closed doors—$100 billion-plus above DoD requests for more than 2,000 weapons programs, per a @taxpayers database. Another $52.2 billion has been proposed this year. rollcall.com/2025/09/16/h...
Hill added $100 billion-plus since 2022 on unrequested weapons - Roll Call
Appropriators have proposed a total of $52.2 billion for 1,403 “program increases” to the Pentagon’s weapons budget request for fiscal 2026
rollcall.com
September 16, 2025 at 11:04 PM
EXCLUSIVE: In just the last four years, lawmakers added—mostly anonymously & behind closed doors—$100 billion-plus above DoD requests for more than 2,000 weapons programs, per a @taxpayers database. Another $52.2 billion has been proposed this year. rollcall.com/2025/09/16/h...
NEW: rollcall.com/2025/07/24/b... Battle over transgender troops reignites on Capitol Hill - Roll Call
Battle over transgender troops reignites on Capitol Hill - Roll Call
Multiple defense bills would cement the Trump administration’s restrictions on health care for transgender military community members.
rollcall.com
July 24, 2025 at 11:28 PM
NEW: rollcall.com/2025/07/24/b... Battle over transgender troops reignites on Capitol Hill - Roll Call
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
My latest: Democrats renew a call for a Pentagon investigation into Elon Musk’s contacts with Vladimir Putin. There’s no sign, however, that such a probe is underway. The then Air Force secretary wrote in a previously unreported letter to senators late last year, “I share your concerns.”
Democrats renew call for probe of Musk-Putin ties - Roll Call
Democrats renew their push for probes into Elon Musk's conversations with top Russian officials, given his access to sensitive information.
rollcall.com
May 16, 2025 at 4:51 PM
My latest: Democrats renew a call for a Pentagon investigation into Elon Musk’s contacts with Vladimir Putin. There’s no sign, however, that such a probe is underway. The then Air Force secretary wrote in a previously unreported letter to senators late last year, “I share your concerns.”
My latest: Democrats renew a call for a Pentagon investigation into Elon Musk’s contacts with Vladimir Putin. There’s no sign, however, that such a probe is underway. The then Air Force secretary wrote in a previously unreported letter to senators late last year, “I share your concerns.”
Democrats renew call for probe of Musk-Putin ties - Roll Call
Democrats renew their push for probes into Elon Musk's conversations with top Russian officials, given his access to sensitive information.
rollcall.com
May 16, 2025 at 4:51 PM
My latest: Democrats renew a call for a Pentagon investigation into Elon Musk’s contacts with Vladimir Putin. There’s no sign, however, that such a probe is underway. The then Air Force secretary wrote in a previously unreported letter to senators late last year, “I share your concerns.”
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
NEW: The biggest source of congressional padding of the defense budget isn’t billion-dollar ships or jets. It’s $10 million here, $10 million there for military tech you’ve never heard of—and neither have a lot of Pentagon brass.
Hill wants $15 billion for weapons Pentagon didn't seek: report - Roll Call
A new report from Taxpayers for Common Sense found that lawmakers pushed to add $15 billion the Pentagon didn't request to defense prorams.
rollcall.com
April 3, 2025 at 1:35 AM
NEW: The biggest source of congressional padding of the defense budget isn’t billion-dollar ships or jets. It’s $10 million here, $10 million there for military tech you’ve never heard of—and neither have a lot of Pentagon brass.
NEW: The biggest source of congressional padding of the defense budget isn’t billion-dollar ships or jets. It’s $10 million here, $10 million there for military tech you’ve never heard of—and neither have a lot of Pentagon brass.
Hill wants $15 billion for weapons Pentagon didn't seek: report - Roll Call
A new report from Taxpayers for Common Sense found that lawmakers pushed to add $15 billion the Pentagon didn't request to defense prorams.
rollcall.com
April 3, 2025 at 1:35 AM
NEW: The biggest source of congressional padding of the defense budget isn’t billion-dollar ships or jets. It’s $10 million here, $10 million there for military tech you’ve never heard of—and neither have a lot of Pentagon brass.
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
BREAKING: The federal funding bill that is apparently close to becoming law would slash more than $1 billion from DoD health research, including cutting in half the money for a program that experts tell me has produced life-saving treatments.
Fears grow about plan to cut Pentagon medical research fund - Roll Call
The six-month continuing resolution before Congress would cut $1.2 billion from the Pentagon's health research into deadly diseases.
rollcall.com
March 14, 2025 at 5:49 PM
ICYMI: The stopgap funding bill keeps Pentagon spending essentially flat, but lawmakers still found $1.5 billion to finish paying for a $2.8 billion destroyer warship that the Navy didn’t seek and the shipbuilder may be unable to produce any time soon.
CR would provide $1.5 billion for extra, unrequested warship - Roll Call
The spending bill the House passed on Tuesday would add more than $1.5 billion to start building a warship that the Navy did not request.
rollcall.com
March 13, 2025 at 11:44 PM
ICYMI: The stopgap funding bill keeps Pentagon spending essentially flat, but lawmakers still found $1.5 billion to finish paying for a $2.8 billion destroyer warship that the Navy didn’t seek and the shipbuilder may be unable to produce any time soon.
BREAKING: The federal funding bill that is apparently close to becoming law would slash more than $1 billion from DoD health research, including cutting in half the money for a program that experts tell me has produced life-saving treatments.
Fears grow about plan to cut Pentagon medical research fund - Roll Call
The six-month continuing resolution before Congress would cut $1.2 billion from the Pentagon's health research into deadly diseases.
rollcall.com
March 13, 2025 at 11:43 PM
BREAKING: The federal funding bill that is apparently close to becoming law would slash more than $1 billion from DoD health research, including cutting in half the money for a program that experts tell me has produced life-saving treatments.
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
Some of the fact checks today on Trump's firehose of lies really funny. He claimed $8 million spent "making mice transgender." But White House supporting documents showed it's cancer research using "transgenic" mice -- genetically altered, not about gender. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Trump Decried Millions Spent 'Making Mice Transgender.' It Was Cancer and Asthma Research
President Trump falsely claimed that Biden spent $8 million on 'making mice transgender,' but the real research was for human health.
www.rollingstone.com
March 6, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Some of the fact checks today on Trump's firehose of lies really funny. He claimed $8 million spent "making mice transgender." But White House supporting documents showed it's cancer research using "transgenic" mice -- genetically altered, not about gender. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
Can America's Global Spy Network Survive Trump's Moscow Tilt?
www.spytalk.co/p/can-americ...
www.spytalk.co/p/can-americ...
Can America's Global Spy Network Survive Trump's Moscow Tilt?
A new book on the 'Five Eyes' traces the spy alliance's uneven history and raises questions about its future under Trump's 'America First' agenda.
www.spytalk.co
March 3, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Can America's Global Spy Network Survive Trump's Moscow Tilt?
www.spytalk.co/p/can-americ...
www.spytalk.co/p/can-americ...
NEW: Donald Trump has hitched America’s foreign policy to the Kremlin’s. The risks are huge—and not just for #Ukraine.
Trump's tilt toward Moscow raises global questions - Roll Call
ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump's pro-Russia stances have implications for the global world order. Is the U.S. still a reliable ally?
rollcall.com
March 4, 2025 at 3:07 AM
NEW: Donald Trump has hitched America’s foreign policy to the Kremlin’s. The risks are huge—and not just for #Ukraine.
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
Tune in to @schwellenbach.bsky.social's interview with @wbur.org (an @npr.org station) about his reporting on two intelligence watchdogs resigning:
Report: Watchdogs resign ahead of Trump's second term
The nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight reports that two key intelligence watchdogs are resigning after President-elect Donald Trump's win, amid concerns that the Trump administration could pu...
www.wbur.org
November 22, 2024 at 6:06 PM
Tune in to @schwellenbach.bsky.social's interview with @wbur.org (an @npr.org station) about his reporting on two intelligence watchdogs resigning:
NEW: The planned departure before Trump takes power of two spy-agency inspectors general has some Democrats worried about what will happen to America’s traditionally independent and nonpartisan watchdog offices.
Intelligence watchdog departures raise red flags in Congress - Roll Call
The unforced exits of two intelligence community watchdogs has Democrats worried about the independence of inspectors general under Trump.
rollcall.com
November 22, 2024 at 5:20 PM
NEW: The planned departure before Trump takes power of two spy-agency inspectors general has some Democrats worried about what will happen to America’s traditionally independent and nonpartisan watchdog offices.
Reposted by John M. Donnelly
“The IGs play a crucial role, and we need those positions filled,” Senator Angus King (I-Maine) told @johnmdonnelly.bsky.social. “The fact that two are leaving is unsettling.”
rollcall.com/2024/11/22/i...
rollcall.com/2024/11/22/i...
Intelligence watchdog departures raise red flags in Congress - Roll Call
The unforced exits of two intelligence community watchdogs has Democrats worried about the independence of inspectors general under Trump.
rollcall.com
November 22, 2024 at 4:12 PM
“The IGs play a crucial role, and we need those positions filled,” Senator Angus King (I-Maine) told @johnmdonnelly.bsky.social. “The fact that two are leaving is unsettling.”
rollcall.com/2024/11/22/i...
rollcall.com/2024/11/22/i...