For the first time since the Clinton administration, the Obama White House urgently wishes to change the arms export control regime, loathed by allies and disliked by the U.S. defense industry. Jim Jones, President Obama’s national security advisor, outlined the major changes to the regime on Capitol Hill today at a lunch of the Senate Aerospace Caucus. The biggest news to come out of the administration’s revamp is a tiered U.S Munitions List. But the Hill is very wary of some other administration arms export plans.

The new Marine Corps Operating Concepts calls for the service to emphasize its small wars legacy and return to its naval infantry roots to serve as the bridging force between ships afloat and operations ashore. Before it can do that, however, the Corps must shed some serious weight. The document says the imperative to significantly lighten all of the component parts of the Marine’s combined arms air ground task force (MAGTF) “will have a significant impact on research and development, programmatic budgeting, acquisitions, doctrine development, and employment of future systems.”

The Obama administration, according to two sources, has failed to produce a classified national security strategy, leaving the country bereft of guidance at a crucial time. One of the country’s most respected strategists, Andy Krepinevich, said he spoke recently with a National Security Council staff member and was told the White House had not and would not produce a classified version of the National Security Strategy released last month. Krepinevich told reporters this morning that this concerned him greatly at a time when the country faces two wars and has had its strategic choices forced upon it by external actors such as al Qaeda, North Korea and China for most of the last nine years.

UPDATED: SASC Approves Petraeus Nomination In Quick Voice Vote

Incoming Afghan commander Gen. David Petraeus told senators today that he will not change the rules of engagement or the “tactical directive” — which guides the use of air strikes — put in place by his predecessor. What he will do is ensure that those rules are being uniformly applied by commanders in the field and that overly cautious officers are not imposing their own maximalist interpretation and slowing the responsiveness of fire support when troops’ lives are on the line.

It was not another April 6, nor a third Last Supper, but Ash Carter’s briefings today should mark the beginning of long-term changes for the defense industry, changes which industry sources view with worried eyes. Carter, the military’s head of acquisition, said the Pentagon did not mean to cut industry profits but wants ‘productivity” gains, just as happens in private industry The monopsony that is the defense industry had not eked out such gains. “More has been costing more,” Carter said during his afternoon press conference.

UPDATED: With SASC Rebuttal of Gates’ F136 Competition Claim

“I don’t see any problems with his nomination at all.” That’s the money line from Sen. Carl Levin about tomorrow’s hearing of his Senate Armed Services Committee to confirm the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus to lead allied force in Afghanistan. Levin, speaking at a Defense Writers Group breakfast this morning, also said he “can’t imagine” President Obama would veto the defense policy bill over the F136 engine.

Over the last few hours calls have gone out from the head of Pentagon acquisition to senior defense industry types to stand by for a Monday morning briefing on cost cutting or efficiency measures, setting off a frenzy of speculation and concern. We hear Ash Carter will make a major announcement about acquisition processes that afternoon.

While the generals commanding the U.S. led war in Afghanistan might have changed, the strategy and the campaign plan remain the same, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters today. His single biggest concern with President Obama’s abrupt dismissal of Gen. Stanley McChrystal was to ensure it not hurt the Afghan war effort. Putting Gen. David Petraeus in charge was the best possible outcome to an “awful situation.” Allied forces are not bogged down, he added.

Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Adm. Mike Mullen, and Gen. David Petraeus in the Rose Garden, a somber American president announced the resignation of his top commander in Afghanistan and made clear he will tolerate no more dissension among his national security team. Obama made very clear that his “team of rivals” must stand together from now on: “I’ve just told my national security team that now is the time for all of us to come together.”

The one thing left unsaid during all the McChrystal discussion so far is whether the team leading the U.S. effort — McChrystal, Richard Holbrooke, Karl Eikenberry, HIllary Clinton and Jim Jones — is still functioning well or whether McChrystal and others on the team need changing. These people were deliberately built as a “team of rivals,” guaranteeing a healthy diversity of opinion, says retired Army general Jim Dubik who led the crucial effort training Iraqi security forces during the surge. That friction is helpful as long as the team functions well enough to achieve unity of purpose and coherency in action.

UPDATED: CNN Reporting Gen. Offers Resignation; No Word From White House

So far, reaction from around the Beltway on Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s comments as reported by Rolling Stone magazine is split down the middle. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, didn’t voice direct support for the general but he cautioned against “a premature Washington feeding frenzy.”

If you watch a lot of movies about World War II you’ll notice the soldiers often swagger about when they aren’t broken, or grinding on with a sense of grim commitment. Remember that as you read the coverage of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the senior commander in Afghanistan who may have allowed Rolling Stone magazine too close and too honest a glimpse into the workings of his command. The popular publication’s reporter clearly did an excellent job of earning the confidence of the general and his aides. They all may well have let down their guard so much that the general loses his job.

Tony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies produces so much excellent analysis so quickly that it sometimes gets lost in the rush. With all the starry eyed talk of Afghanistan’s trillion dollar asset bank — also known as mining deposits — Cordesman’s flinty-eyed scouring of the issue caught our eye. Following is an edited version of his excellent piece about whether Afghanistan is worth U.S. blood and treasure, how much treasure Afghanistan may really have and what it means to them and to us.

The Air Force’s head of acquisition is unhappy with Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk program. David Van Buren held a rare on-the-record briefing with reporters today and said he was “unhappy” with the program at least three times. Van Buren said he was unhappy with the program’s approach and achievements on cost. He said he was unhappy with the sensors that go on the aircraft. And he said he was unhappy with the aircraft itself. Oh, and by the way, he said the program takes way too long to submit proposals. How slow can the pace be, you ask? Van Buren said it was “excruciating.”

The Navy wants to buy capital ships. The Marines want to buy amphibious ships. The proliferation of low-cost, precision anti-ship missiles into the arsenals of potential enemies means large deck amphibious ships are becoming “wasting assets” in the eyes of many Navy leaders. The Marines and the Navy are at loggerheads, at a time when every dollars in the defense budget is up for grabs.

Hot, hot hot. That’s the only way to describe the last few weeks of the new engine war. The latest salvo fired in the three-sided battle (DefSec Gates and Pratt vs. GE/Rolls Royce) comes from John Rice, GE’s vice chairman of the board. In a bold move rarely taken by a major defense contractor, Rice directly and publicly rejects Robert Gates’ statement before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the GE/RR engine “probably does not meet the performance standards that are required…”

In a move that may mark the beginning of a new era for defense and aerospace companies, the country’s biggest defense contractor, Lockheed Martin will eliminate 50 percent of its usual participation at July’s Farnborough Air Show. On top of that, CEO Bob Stevens told reporters that he would not attend the show. Stevens cited what he called the “new reality” of increased demands and constrained resources.