By Charles Hoskinson

PANETTA: HIGHER TRICARE FEES, FEWER TROOPS, MORE BASE CLOSINGS are possible recommendations of the long-awaited DOD budget review. In an interview with the New York Times published today, the secretary said DOD is also looking at cuts to the nation’s nuclear arsenal and the F-35 JSF. Read it here: http://nyti.ms/rwg2jk

PANETTA DOWNPLAYED expectations that eliminating waste and duplication would cover a large part of the required savings — $350 billion over 10 years for now, and the possibility of more from the debt-reduction supercommittee.

PRESS SECRETARY GEORGE LITTLE TELLS US: “The Department hasn’t faced this kind of fiscal challenge in a long time, and he’s determined to work through it in the smartest way possible. … Even though the process will involve some tough choices, make no mistake about it: the secretary is insistent that we preserve the best military in the world and its capabilities to protect the American people and our interests around the globe — especially when we continue to face a host of national security challenges and threats.”

MEANWHILE, PENTAGON CRITICS ON THE LEFT are panning the dire warnings of what budget cuts would do to DOD, saying it’s long past time the department went on a diet. http://bit.ly/txoO5m

CRISIS OF THE WEEK – The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to announce in a report due out today that Iran has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon with help from experts from the former Soviet Union, Pakistan and North Korea, the Washington Post reports today in a front-page story. You can read it here: http://wapo.st/rplcY4

IRAN SHRUGGED AT THE IAEA’S FINDINGS, and U.S. hopes for stiffer U.N. sanctions are likely to be blocked by Russia and China. But Israeli leaders kept up their warnings over the weekend, with the normally dovish President Shimon Peres saying that an attack is becoming increasingly likely. http://yhoo.it/vp3TFD

THE AMERICAN SECURITY PROJECT MEANWHILE is out with its own report today about the global nuclear threat, including that posed by Iran. You can read it here: http://bit.ly/ujBqEy

IRAN’S ROLE IN IRAQ IS ALSO UNDER SCRUTINY by Iraqis, who – like many in Washington – expect Tehran to fill the power vacuum left by withdrawing U.S. forces at the end of this year. The AP’s Lara Jakes has the story here: http://yhoo.it/vfqmwo

FIRED FOR GOING OFF-MESSAGE – That would be now-former NTM-A deputy commander Fuller, whose harsh criticism of Afghan officials on Thursday led to him being relieved of duty on Friday. Allen sacked Fuller just a day before Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger took over command of NTM-A from Caldwell. Our story on Fuller being relieved is here: http://politi.co/tDjM1Y

FULLER’S COMMENTS WERE NO SURPRISE to anyone who’s been following Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai’s frequent backslaps at the United States are well-known, and there’s ample public evidence of concern about Afghan government corruption – most recently in the semiannual progress report issued late last month. His sin was to add his own voice to the chatter at a time when shoring up public support for the war effort is critical.

SASC ON TUESDAY WILL TACKLE the concern over how counterfeit electronic spare parts, particularly from China, are making their way into DOD’s supply chain. The hearing is at 9:30 a.m. in Dirksen G-50.

ON THURSDAY, the committee takes on a perennial controversy: Should the head of the National Guard Bureau become a member of the Joint Chiefs? The star-studded witness list includes Dempsey and the other Joint Chiefs, NGB chief McKinley and DOD counsel Johnson. That hearing also is at 9:30 a.m. in Dirksen G-50.

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