The coronavirus relief legislation passed by the Senate this week would loosen restrictions on how the Defense Department can award larger other transaction agreements for prototypes related to COVID-19.
Friday, April 19, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
Justin Doubleday was managing editor of Inside the Pentagon until June 2021, where he focused on defense-wide topics including budgets, acquisition policy, combatant commands, missile defense and cyber. He has also worked for ITP sister publications Inside the Army and Inside the Navy. Justin previously reported for The Chronicle of Higher Education. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2013.
The coronavirus relief legislation passed by the Senate this week would loosen restrictions on how the Defense Department can award larger other transaction agreements for prototypes related to COVID-19.
The Defense Department claims it will recoup nearly $1 billion in fiscal year 2021 through its various "IT cost savings initiatives," as defense officials look to consolidate IT infrastructure and services across the department's "fourth estate" agencies and field activities, according to new budget documents.
Amazon Web Services is asking a court to block the Defense Department's motion to reconsider aspects of its decision to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract to Microsoft, arguing DOD is merely giving Microsoft a "do-over" on its bid.
The Pentagon is asking Congress to adopt a legislative proposal allowing Defense Department organizations to use operations and maintenance funding to develop "cyber-operations peculiar" capabilities.
A congressional task force studying how the Defense Department could better adapt for the future is preparing potentially controversial recommendations on issues like Pentagon spending priorities, U.S. efforts in Africa and the military's approach to pandemics like the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
A new audit is again pointing to the Defense Department's shortcomings in cybersecurity, reporting DOD components did not always mitigate vulnerabilities or plan to address them in a variety of systems, while the department's cyber red teams are not meeting mission requests due to increased demand for their services.
The Pentagon has named William Lietzau as the next director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.
Defense Department acquisition chief Ellen Lord is calling out unnamed "third-party entities" for claiming they can offer assessments under the Pentagon's new contractor cybersecurity certification program.
The Pentagon is seeking a federal judge's permission to reconsider technical aspects of its decision to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract to Microsoft last year.
The Missile Defense Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers are determining how to proceed with delayed Aegis Ashore site in Poland, according to MDA's director, as they attempt a "carrot and stick approach" to get the contractor on track to complete construction by 2022, four years later than initially planned.
The Pentagon is developing new "Technology Area Protection Plans" to prevent sensitive information about Defense Department research from being acquired by foreign governments like China, according to Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin.
The Cyberspace Solarium Commission is recommending Congress direct the Defense Department to continuously evaluate the cybersecurity of its weapon systems, require defense contractors to participate in threat information sharing programs and re-assess the size of its Cyber Mission Force.
U.S. Cyber Command is seeking a $42 million increase to its budget in fiscal year 2021 as it ramps up "defend forward" operations targeting adversaries on networks based abroad.
The Pentagon’s outpost in Silicon Valley has spent the past five years working with commercial start-up companies to prototype new capabilities for the Defense Department, varying from short-range recon drones to automated cyber vulnerability detection for weapon systems.
The Pentagon recently briefed industry on plans to experiment with sharing electromagnetic spectrum between fifth-generation commercial cellular devices and military aircraft, as Defense Department leaders say they won’t give up DOD's access to mid-band spectrum but are willing to share it.
In 2017, the Defense Innovation Unit began working with several start-up companies to develop tools to automatically find and fix software vulnerabilities in the U.S. military's highly advanced weapon systems.
The Defense Department expects to begin implementing measures as soon as next week to reduce the risk of a coronavirus outbreak at the Pentagon, potentially affecting the thousands of service members, civilians, contractors and visitors who walk through the turnstiles every day at the U.S. military's headquarters.
The Missile Defense Agency is pursuing a ship-based interceptor as the "first instantiation" of the Regional Glide Phase Weapon System for defending against hypersonic threats, according to the agency's top official.
The State Department has cleared Israel to purchase eight KC-46 tanker aircraft in a deal worth up to $2.4 billion.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper today tempered expectations for a smooth ending to the U.S. military's 18-year conflict in Afghanistan after the United States and the Taliban reached a historic peace agreement over the weekend.