Sunday, September 28, 2025
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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 Pentagon, in one of the biggest shifts in requirements-setting in two decades, is scrapping the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) -- long criticized as slow and bureaucratic -- and creating a new senior board to tie military requirements directly to budgets and accelerate technology delivery to the battlefield, according to a memo obtained by Inside Defense.
The Defense Department has told the House and Senate Armed Services committees to expects its reconciliation spending plan in September, missing an Aug. 22 deadline set by lawmakers after they sent the Pentagon detailed "guidance tables" intended to show congressional intent for how the funds should be used.
The White House's new effort to scrub and streamline decades of federal acquisition regulations has begun to take shape, with key reforms poised to impact the Defense Department as the U.S. government's largest buyer of goods and services.
Senior defense officials are slated to discuss the future of drone warfare and counterterrorism this week.
The Defense Department is seeking authority from Congress to loan U.S. weapons to any foreign nation -- not just NATO allies or major non-NATO allies -- to support cooperative research, development, testing and evaluation programs aimed at helping those countries defend themselves against aggression.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at public events this week.
The Senate Appropriations Committee today said the Trump administration's historically late budget -- and its bifurcated fiscal year 2026 request -- contributed to a $10 billion disconnect in funding for priority procurements that were left out of the White House's budget submission and not accounted for in the recently passed reconciliation bill.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 26-3 to approve a fiscal year 2026 defense spending bill today that would provide $852 billion for the Defense Department, an increase of more than $20 billion above what House appropriators have supported.
President Trump has nominated Pentagon official Michael Payne to be director of cost assessment and program evaluation.
The Defense Department has approved large critical munitions contracts for a pilot program intended to accelerate acquisition timelines by allowing defense contractors to reduce the typical amount of certified cost and pricing data they submit to the government, according to a new memo.
Senior officials are slated to discuss defense issues at several public events this week.
The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, in a bid to maintain oversight of the $150 billion poised to be injected into the Defense Department via a recently passed budget reconciliation bill, have sent the Pentagon new programmatic guidance tables showing congressional intent and want to see DOD's own detailed spending plan by Aug. 22, according to documents obtained by Inside Defense.
The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the Government Accountability Office to review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's cuts to the Pentagon's independent weapons testing office.
U.S. European Command has sent Congress a $1.6 billion unfunded priorities list, a major increase from the $141 million UPL it submitted last year, reflecting a significant surge in unmet requirements, including those intended to bolster U.S. allies, according to a previously unreported document obtained by Inside Defense.
The Defense Department is reviewing its participation in think-tank events, vetting organizations for political alignment with the Trump administration, according to the Pentagon's top spokesman.
Michael Duffey, the Pentagon's new acquisition chief, was reminded by lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee today of the many matters that require his attention, including a major defense program review, controversial "right to repair" policies, the perennial task of reforming the military's bureaucratic procurement system as well as the need to be more transparent with Congress.
The Army's fiscal year 2026 unfunded priorities list, a previously unreported document obtained by Inside Defense, details 37 individual unmet needs the service would like Congress to consider funding, highlighting the Patriot missile system, the Coyote counter-drone system, the Precision Strike Missile and a host of others.
Lawmakers will hold a major defense acquisition reform hearing on Capitol Hill this week. Meanwhile, senior Pentagon officials are scheduled to speak at several events around Washington.
The House voted 221-209 to pass its $832 billion defense appropriations bill last night.
The House Armed Services Committee voted 55-2 to pass the annual defense policy bill last night, with key provisions aimed at reforming the Pentagon's acquisition system.