Friday, December 6, 2024
Sebastian Sprenger was the chief editor of Inside the Army until May 2016, where he primarily reported on land warfare and associated budgets, policies and technologies. A native of Siegen, Germany, he got is start in journalism at the now-defunct Westfälische Rundschau in Kreuztal. He studied at Universität Trier and elsewhere.
Defense Department officials are stepping up their scrutiny of new weapon programs for capability trade-offs and the possibility of incremental development in an attempt to cut cost and optimize existing capabilities resident in the services, a Pentagon official said today.
Because so much at the Defense Department depends on contractors, Pentagon leaders fear the work of private contractors may not get done during times of crises.
Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper appeared before the Senate Budget Committee last week to offer his views on the defense budget and the Quadrennial Defense Review.
A new Pentagon policy released today directs that Facebook, Twitter and other social networking Web sites be available to officials across the Defense Department, but it omits a key phrase from a previous draft version of the policy that said their use should be outright encouraged.
The Army released the long-awaited final version of its Cyberspace Operations Concept Capability Plan 2016-2028 this week.
Defense Department information operations specialists have been increasingly able to place their messages in foreign media without having to attribute them to the U.S. government after several programs in recent years removed some of the internal policy restrictions in place during the height of American counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, a defense official told InsideDefense.com.
Defense Department officials today issued an interim rule implementing a section of the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 aimed at increasing competition among contractors vying for major Pentagon orders.
U.S. and European defense leaders expect an increased flow of American equipment and knowledge for countering improvised explosive devices to NATO allies and Afghan forces, the result of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' newly stressed goal of closer cooperation on countering the threat in Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates today urged an audience of NATO officials to "enhance" the deterrent effect of the alliance's creed, which holds that an attack on one member means an attack on all of NATO.
NATO officials apparently are willing to accept the pass they are being offered on the issue of U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in Europe after a senior Pentagon official said the U.S. government will debate the future of these weapons in the context of the alliance's new strategic concept.
As the Defense Department moves away from nuclear weapons as the nation's sole means of deterrence, it must strengthen its efforts to understand what other actions would keep would-be adversaries in check, according to the two-star officer leading U.S. Strategic Command's global strike directorate.
U.S. Central Command leaders are moving ahead with a major overhaul of the command's contracting bureaucracy, eying activation of a new Joint Theater Support Contracting Command by the summer, according to documents and sources.
During the Iraq war, the Defense Department depended most heavily on contractors performing logistics services, followed by private interpreters and trainers and information technology specialists, according to an unreleased Joint Staff study.
A draft Army plan for the service's future cyberspace operations sets "freedom of action" in the digital domain as a key goal post, saying attempts to "dominate" the newest warfighting domain akin to U.S. military superiority in the air, on land and at sea are not achievable.
A small group of international defense analysts writing for the London-based Centre for European Reform this week published a critique of Germany's proclaimed desire to have all remaining U.S. nuclear weapons removed from its soil.
Joint Forces Command officials recently finished a series of experiments aimed at helping combatant commanders improve their ability to plan cyberspace operations in their areas of responsibility, according to a command official.
The Obama administration's nuclear posture review report will be silent on the topic of America's tactical nuclear arms based in Europe, as officials plan to discuss the weapons' continued necessity through NATO channels this year, according to a senior defense official.
A somewhat tense discussion ensued at a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week when lawmakers questioned two key architects of the Quadrennial Defense Review.
Defense Department leaders are beginning an effort to understand the complex relationship of suppliers delivering billions in goods and services to the Pentagon each year, a top DOD official said today.