The Waldorf’s Presidential Suite Isn’t Very Presidential Anymore
Months after the Waldorf Astoria was sold to a Chinese company, the State Department is abandoning a decades-long tradition of putting up U.S. diplomats at the storied hotel on New York’s Park Avenue.
This fall President Obama and state department officials will not be staying at the Waldorf for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly and will check into the New York Palace Hotel instead.
According to the New York Post, “every U.S. president since Herbert Hoover” has stayed in the presidential suite at the Waldorf when visiting New York, including President Obama. Presidential artifacts in the suite include President Jimmy Carter’s eagle desk set, one of President John F. Kennedy’s rocking chairs, a gold oval mirror from Ronald Reagan, and the personal desk of General Douglas MacArthur. The hotel is the site of Chinese history as well. On his first historic trip to the U.S. in 1974, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping stayed at the Waldorf and attended a banquet given in his honor by then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Related: U.S. Reviews Waldorf Astoria Sale to Chinese Firm
The $1.95 billion sale of the 47-story tower to the Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group first raised eyebrows in Washington last October. Even though the previous owner, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, will continue to manage the hotel for the next 100 years, news of a “major renovation” sparked fears of possible Chinese cyber-espionage and surveillance.
Those fears were further heightened earlier this month when U.S. officials blamed Chinese hackers for a massive cyberattack targeting the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, exposing sensitive information about 4 million current and former federal workers. China has denied any involvement.
Budget ‘Chaos’ Threatens Army Reset: Retired General
One thing is standing in the way of a major ongoing effort to reset the U.S. Army, writes Carter Ham, a retired four-star general who’s now president and CEO of the Association of the U.S. Army, at Defense One. “The problem is the Washington, D.C., budget quagmire.”
The issue is more than just a matter of funding levels. “What hurts more is the erratic, unreliable and downright harmful federal budget process,” which has forced the Army to plan based on stopgap “continuing resolutions” instead of approved budgets for nine straight fiscal years. “A slowdown in combat-related training, production delays in new weapons, and a postponement of increases in Army troop levels are among the immediate impacts of operating under this ill-named continuing resolution. It’s not continuous and it certainly doesn’t display resolve.”
Pentagon Pushes for Faster F-35 Cost Cuts
The Pentagon has taken over cost-cutting efforts for the F-35 program, which has been plagued by years of cost overruns, production delays and technical problems. The Defense Department rejected a cost-saving plan proposed by contractors including principal manufacturer Lockheed Martin as being too slow to produce substantial savings. Instead, it gave Lockheed a $60 million contract “to pursue further efficiency measures, with more oversight of how the money was spent,” The Wall Street Journal’s Doug Cameron reports. F-35 program leaders “say they want more of the cost-saving effort directed at smaller suppliers that haven’t been pressured enough.” The Pentagon plans to cut the price of the F-35A model used by the Air Force from a recent $94.6 million each to around $80 million by 2020. Overall, the price of developing the F-35 has climbed above $400 billion, with the total program cost now projected at $1.53 trillion. (Wall Street Journal, CNBC)
Chart of the Day - October 6, 2017
Financial performance for insurers in the individual Obamacare markets is improving, driven by higher premiums and slower growth in claims. This suggests that the market is stabilizing. (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Quote of the Day - October 5, 2017
"The train's left the station, and if you're a budget hawk, you were left at the station." -- Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.