A few must-reads from this week's Inside the Pentagon.
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Thursday, October 10, 2024
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.
A few must-reads from this week's Inside the Pentagon.
DOD intends to produce a strategy to sustain the minimum workloads required to keep its three manufacturing arsenals operational amid a shortage of sufficient revenue, but ongoing budget constraints may still require DOD to seek help from Congress, according to a recent memo.
Officials from OPM, DHS and OMB declined to appear before Congress today for a classified briefing on the security breach earlier this year that compromised the personal information of 21 million Americans, many of whom work for DOD.
A team of House GOP committee chairmen has been asked by the majority leader to craft new policy proposals to address the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, some of which could be attached to an upcoming omnibus spending bill in December, according to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX).
Fifty-five House lawmakers have sent a letter to Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall asking that he withdraw a proposed pricing policy that defense industry advocates say would hamper commercial companies seeking to do business with the Defense Department.
In the wake of attacks in Paris that left at least 129 people dead, the United States plans to "bolster" its intelligence-sharing program with the French government, per new guidance from high-ranking defense officials, according to a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook.
The Pentagon has released a 160-page report identifying excessive costs imposed on the defense industry, as well as recommendations on how to begin eliminating them.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said today that Defense Secretary Ash Carter expects President Obama to sign the newly passed $607 billion defense authorization bill, despite language prohibiting the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
Promising to "first, do no harm," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) has begun a review of the U.S. defense organization, specifically with an eye toward updating the landmark Goldwater-Nichols reform legislation passed 30 years ago.
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work over the weekend laid out the basic vision for the Pentagon's planned fiscal year 2017 investments in the so-called "third offset" innovation strategy, saying that human-machine collaboration is at the heart of most internal budgetary discussions on the matter.
The week ahead is expected to offer a glimpse into the future defense reform agenda of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ), who is scheduled to host a hearing to discuss refreshing the Goldwater-Nichols reform legislation 30 years after its passage.
In a move underscoring Washington's new focus on bolstering the Baltic region against potential Russian military advances, the U.S. government has agreed to provide Lithuania a still-in-development, cannon-variant of the Stryker combat vehicle -- a possible $600 million deal that comes just weeks after the Army was given permission by Congress to develop the “up-gunned” Stryker.
Senate Democrats have blocked consideration of the fiscal year 2016 defense appropriations bill and pledged to do so indefinitely with all stand-alone spending legislation until an omnibus bill can be sent to President Obama.
The Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by John McCain (R-AZ), convened today to discuss roles and missions of the U.S. armed forces as part of a larger review of the nation's defense organization.
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's acquisition chief, and Terry Halvorsen, the Defense Department's chief information officer, have released a new guidebook for program managers on integrating cybersecurity risk management into their assessments of weapon system life cycles.
As the Defense Department resets its fiscal year 2017 budget to account for a revanchist Russia, a recently departed Pentagon policy chief is urging the Obama administration to make a greater commitment to European security in the form of “permanent and substantial” budgetary resources and troop presence.
House and Senate authorizers took the initiative this week to influence their appropriations committee counterparts by releasing their vision for implementing a $5 billion cut to the fiscal year 2016 national defense budget.
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work praised Congress for reaching a deal to give the federal government two years of budgetary certainty, but he remains concerned over the $14 billion decrease the Pentagon will have to make to its planned fiscal year 2017 request.
President Obama has signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, locking in the terms of the two-year budget deal Congress hammered out last week that would raise the debt ceiling and lift sequestration spending caps by $80 billion.
The Pentagon’s special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction is blasting the Defense Department for continuing to disavow all knowledge of a business task force alleged to have wasted $800 million.