Based in Washington, Michael Bruno is Aviation Week Network’s Executive Editor for Business. He oversees coverage of aviation, aerospace and defense business issues, and is editor in chief of Aviation Week Executive Intelligence newsletters. Beyond reporting, Bruno helps organize related Aviation Week conferences, hosts podcasts and webinars, and speaks publicly as a subject matter expert on industry issues. Since joining Aviation Week in 2005, he has won several Jesse H. Neal and Aerospace Media awards. He has a master's degree from Syracuse University and a bachelor's from Vanderbilt University.
In the 30 years Rep. Ike Skelton has been in Congress, the U.S. has engaged in 12 military expeditions--from Grenada and Panama to Somalia and Afghanistan--but the Missouri Democrat says the war in Iraq has him worried about U.S. counterinsurgency capabilities. Counterinsurgency "over a period of years has become lost in the shuffle," the incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee says, adding that when Democrats assume control of Congress this month, they will take "a hard look" at both conventional warfare and counterinsurgency.
The House Armed Services Committee, for now under Republican control and led by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), will host a Nov. 14 hearing to receive testimony on the national security implications of the proposed Lucent/Alcatel merger.
Democrats' plans to make the war in Iraq their top priority in the next session of Congress could take the heat off some troubled defense programs--especially if the party regains control of the U.S. House or Senate. Ironically, if Republicans stay in power, military aircraft procurement and the Army's Future Combat System could come under greater scrutiny in oversight hearings that would divert attention from the war.
