NATO's 5 Percent Pledge Rewrites the Alliance's Spending Math
The Hague summit communique commits allies to 5 percent of GDP by 2035 — but the split between core defense and infrastructure does the real work.
Petra VogelSecurity
Security covers the national security apparatus: military posture, intelligence oversight, homeland security operations, border enforcement and cyber threats to critical infrastructure. Reporting relies on hearings, declassified material and named officials. Intended for analysts, security professionals, congressional staff and readers assessing threat claims against the evidence offered.
Coverage spanning defense posture, intelligence oversight, homeland security and cyber threats to infrastructure, built on testimony and public documents.
What a Continuing Resolution Actually Does to Pentagon Spending
Stopgap funding freezes weapons programs at last year's levels and bars new starts, and the compliance costs surface long after the shutdown threat that triggered it fades.
Petra VogelAuthorized vs Appropriated: Two Budgets
Congress writes two different defense numbers every year — the NDAA's authorization and the appropriations bill's budget authority — and only one of them lets the Pentagon spend a dollar.
Petra VogelHow DHS Security Grants Reach Cities
About a billion dollars a year flows from FEMA to states and big cities for terrorism prevention and preparedness — through a formula-and-competition machine shaped by risk scores and spending rules.
Petra VogelSpace Force and the Orbital Traffic Jam
The US military catalog of tracked orbiting objects has swelled past 47,000 entries, and keeping two of them from colliding has become a Space Force mission in its own right.
Petra VogelHow US Chip Export Controls Work
Since October 2022, the Commerce Department has run the most sweeping technology restrictions of the export-control era — and patched them every time industry found a gap.
Petra VogelGuam Defense: The Plans and the Price
The Pentagon is building its densest air and missile defense outside the continental United States on a 212-square-mile island, and the bill keeps growing.
Petra VogelHow the Military Fixed Recruiting
After a 15,000-recruit shortfall in 2023, the services rebuilt their recruiting model around preparation courses and bigger budgets — and hit their fiscal 2025 goals early.
Petra VogelWhy US Water Systems Face Cyber Risk
Sixteen thousand wastewater and fifty thousand drinking water systems, most of them tiny utilities with no security staff, are the country's least defended critical infrastructure.
Petra VogelDefense Consolidation: Why 5 Firms Rule
Three decades of mergers turned a fifty-company defense industry into five prime contractors, and the Pentagon is now spending billions trying to manage the consequences.
Petra Vogel