Several high-profile defense think tanks from across the political spectrum are on relatively the same page, in terms of what kind of financial hit the Pentagon should take in the coming decade, according to a recently released report. 

He will be testifying about the situation in the Congo at a House Armed Services Committee hearing

Gen. Martin Dempsey put to rest Monday any talk that U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) headquarters could move out of Germany and onto the continent, at least for the near future.

Dempsey, speaking at a town hall in Stuttgart, Germany, where AFRICOM is located, said the command should stay where it is, Stars and Stripes reported.

“The answer I can give you with confidence today is, yes,” Dempsey said.

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Iran's top naval commanders are looking to extend the country's maritime presence beyond the regional waters of the Persian Gulf and into areas closer to the coastlines of the United States and its western allies. 

A car bomb exploded outside a U.S. contractor’s compound on Monday in Kabul, killing at least two Afghan workers and injuring more than a dozen others, according to reports.

In a separate incident Monday, 10 girls in eastern Afghanistan were killed by the accidental triggering of an old landmine, U.S. officials said.

The attack in the Afghan capital blew apart large sections of the compound’s exterior wall and collapsed a roof on a building inside, the Associated Press reported.

House and Senate defense lawmakers are on the cusp of wrapping up a key piece of legislative business before Congress heads home for the holidays.

Congressional conferees and their staffs are nearly finished on a compromise version of the Pentagon's budget plan for fiscal 2012. A final draft of the legislation could arrive on President Obama's desk as soon as this week.

Getting the department's spending blueprint finalized by Congress was one of several legislative priorities laid out by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for the lame-duck session on Capitol Hill.

Concerns on Capitol Hill over whether Congress was in danger of not passing a Department of Defense authorization bill during this legislative year were quashed earlier this month, when the Senate finally approved its version of the $631 billion spending package.

The House as early as Wednesday will approve a bill requiring the government to take steps aimed at thwarting Iran's interests in the Western Hemisphere, including by ensuring Iran cannot disrupt or influence energy supplies.

Members will consider H.R. 3783, the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act, by the middle of the week. The bill will be the latest congressional action against Iran, which has been the target of several other sanctions-related bills in the 112th Congress.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order Friday to defend against missiles coming into Turkey.

The Topline: The months-long guessing game as to who will replace soon-to-be outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta may be coming to an end, with recent reports putting former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel at the top of the Obama administration's list of successors to the top job at DOD.

The Atlantic Council president and Vietnam veteran was reportedly called to the White House on Dec. 4 to discuss the job, according to recent news reports. While Hagel has reportedly cleared the administration's vetting process to become the new defense chief, President Obama has not yet given his blessing on the nomination. 

But that didn't stop the Washington press corps from pressing White House press secretary Jay Carney on the issue, grilling the administration's top flack on the president's thoughts on some of Hagel's foreign policy positions. 

Carney didn't take the bait. While he did emphasize that "the president thinks very highly of Sen. Hagel," Carney declined to comment on the former senator's possible nomination, noting he did not have any personnel announcements on the matter.

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