The Defense Department is overhauling its acquisition system to prioritize speed and transform its relationship with defense contractors, particularly the largest ones.
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Tony Bertuca is chief editor of Inside the Pentagon, the flagship publication of InsideDefense, where he focuses on defense budget and acquisition policy. He previously worked for the Sun-Times News Group in his hometown of Chicago, IL, and at the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, NH. Tony has also served as managing editor of Inside the Army. He has a master's degree in journalism from Boston University.
The Defense Department is overhauling its acquisition system to prioritize speed and transform its relationship with defense contractors, particularly the largest ones.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in an address at the National War College that directed an ambitious overhaul of the Pentagon's infamously bureaucratic acquisition system, told senior executives from the world's largest defense companies that they will "fade away" if they do not move faster, deliver at greater scale and "assume risk."
Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee today called on President Trump's nominee for director of the Pentagon's cost assessment and program evaluation office to scale back some of CAPE's activities, asserting that it has become focused on advocacy over analysis.
The Defense Department said today that its fiscal year 2025 military intelligence program budget appropriated by Congress was $27.8 billion, a reduction from the $29.8 billion DOD received in FY-24.
A new Defense Department reorganization of senior policy leaders and their oversight areas is drawing bipartisan rebukes from senior senators, who say Congress has not been informed of major shifts in officials' responsibilities, including the AUKUS security pact between the U.S., U.K. and Australia.
A new draft Pentagon memo obtained by Inside Defense outlines what could become the most far-reaching overhaul of the Defense Department's acquisition system in decades, shifting the entire enterprise toward one overriding goal: getting new capabilities to the field faster.
Congress will consider key defense nominees this week, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is slated to speak about acquisition reform with key defense company leaders.
The Trump administration plans to divert a total of $5.3 billion from the Pentagon's war chest -- including procurement programs -- to pay U.S. troops amid the ongoing government shutdown, according to a White House official.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning to soon announce a key reform to the U.S. foreign military sales process that will move the Defense Security Cooperation Agency out from under the purview of the Pentagon's policy shop and place it under the supervision of the acquisition chief, according to several sources.
The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees said today they "strongly oppose" the Trump administration's decision to reduce U.S. troop presence in Romania -- the eastern flank of NATO.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill for nomination hearings this week.
Amid recent departures from long-standing government funding norms -- and an ongoing crackdown on information that has traditionally been available to Congress and the public -- the Pentagon, in choosing to classify its plan for spending $150 billion in budget reconciliation funds, has sparked questions and concerns in several corners of the Washington defense community.
President Trump has nominated Brian Birdwell, a Texas state senator, to serve as the assistant secretary of defense for sustainment.
The White House has withdrawn the nomination of former GE executive Jeffrey Bornstein, whom President Trump tapped in May to serve as Pentagon comptroller.
The Defense Department, detailing for Congress the impacts of the ongoing government shutdown, says it has canceled “significant elements” of a key military exercise for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command focused on validating land-based strike capabilities via an experimental radar being integrated with the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The Defense Department has sent Congress the first “tranche” of its spending plan for the budget reconciliation funds it received under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, identifying how it would apportion about $90 billion of the $150 billion total.
A defense innovation conference is being held in the Washington area this week. The federal government, however, remains partially shut down.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has told Congress the ongoing government shutdown is forcing the agency to furlough 1,400 workers as its funding for salaries and expenses is nearly exhausted.
The head of U.S. Southern Command, who has been overseeing a 10,000-troop build-up and an expansive series of attacks on alleged drug cartel boats in the Caribbean Sea, has stepped down from his post after less than a year in the job.
A majority of Senate Democrats made it clear today they want to deal with the ongoing government shutdown before considering new spending packages, blocking a key vote to advance a defense appropriations bill.