The Pentagon's acquisition czar-nominee pledged at a Senate confirmation hearing today to work to protect the U.S. military's procurement system from fraud and abuse in the wake of recent scandals over major Air Force weapon system programs.
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Jason Sherman is a reporter for Inside Defense. For more than two decades -- including stints with Defense News and Armed Forces Journal -- he has covered the Pentagon, defense industry, the military budget, weapon system acquisition and defense policy formulation as well as reporting on technology, business, and global arms trade. Jason has traveled to more than 40 countries, studied medieval history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and lives in Brooklyn.
The Pentagon's acquisition czar-nominee pledged at a Senate confirmation hearing today to work to protect the U.S. military's procurement system from fraud and abuse in the wake of recent scandals over major Air Force weapon system programs.
The Pentagon is considering trimming the Navy's planned fleet of 11 aircraft carriers to 10 in order to find money for new military capabilities needed to better contend with irregular, catastrophic and disruptive challenges, according to Pentagon sources and documents.
The 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review is set to take up what the White House calls one of the greatest security challenges facing the United States -- the prospect of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists or hostile states.
The Navy is drafting a new strategy to guide its transition from a fleet optimized to fight a conventional adversary on the high seas to a service better able to deal with a wider range of threats presented by the global war on terrorism.
Senior military officials leading last Saturday's inaugural Quadrennial Defense Review meeting determined that one of the capabilities essential for an effective military contribution to homeland defense does not reside in a camouflaged warehouse or combat schoolhouse.
An advisory panel to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is evaluating the long-term viability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile in an assessment that could lay the groundwork for a new class of nuclear weapons.
Decisions on weapon system investments made in the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review are set to dominate changes to the Pentagon's spending plans this fall, according to defense documents and officials.
The Defense Department is directing the services to consider the capabilities needed to aid civil authorities in the aftermath of massive terrorist attacks on at least two American cities.
Senior Pentagon officials this Saturday will delve into nightmarish scenarios of catastrophic terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in a bid to figure out how the military can best defend the American homeland and provide support to civil authorities in the aftermath of such an attack.
The Navy and Coast Guard are considering expanding a cooperative port harbor surveillance pilot program to give more American harbors a command and control operations center capable of coordinating a response to a maritime terrorist threat.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has nominated Army Lt. Gen. William Wallace for a fourth star and a new position -- head of the service's Training and Doctrine Command at Ft. Monroe, VA.
The Pentagon is examining what to do with the Office of Force Transformation in wake of the January retirement of Arthur Cebrowski, the founder and intellectual leader of the shop that was set up to help the military prepare for the future.
The World Bank executive board's unanimous decision to approve Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as its next president will soon deprive the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review of one of its most important leaders at a critical time.
The Pentagon's acquisition executive is preparing to marshal investments across the U.S. military to put in place cutting-edge logistics capabilities that are essential to the Defense Department's plans to transform from an Industrial Age force to an Information Age force.
The Navy is planning to adjust its near-term investment strategy in order to better handle future missions in the global war on terrorism, a move that service officials hope will anticipate recommendations from the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review expected later this summer.
The Pentagon for the first time is inviting representatives from other executive branch agencies to participate in its Quadrennial Defense Review as it tries to identify the roles and missions of the federal government that need adjusting to deal with new security challenges.
After weeks of glowing press around the world for providing disaster relief to areas stricken by the December tsunami that devastated coastal communities along the Indian Ocean, the Navy is conducting a review of aspects of its operation that did not go well.
Navy and CIA strategists have crafted a new framework for thinking about future threats that is being used to inform the sea service's 2007 budget proposal, and it may influence the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review, according to a senior service official.
The Pentagon plans to lash up U.S. military personnel with Iraq's fledgling security force in a new, two-pronged approach to improve Iraqi combat effectiveness against insurgents by providing a wide range of support, including the ability to call for U.S. air strikes.
A sweeping defense review now under way may usher significant changes to what Pentagon officials call its "force planning construct" -- a key metric for shaping U.S. war plans, justifying the total size of the uniformed ranks and establishing the roster of needed combat gear, according to a senior Pentagon official.