Top Pentagon officials on Wednesday spoke out forcefully against defense industry consolidation, warning it could result in higher prices and reduced innovation.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Tuesday, September 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.
Top Pentagon officials on Wednesday spoke out forcefully against defense industry consolidation, warning it could result in higher prices and reduced innovation.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter is advising President Obama to veto the proposed Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act mainly because it adheres to a GOP budget "gimmick" that fails to give the Defense Department long-term fiscal certainty.
House and Senate conferees, amid a veto threat from the White House and opposition from Democrats over a budgeting "gimmick," have agreed on a proposed fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill that would significantly change the management of the Pentagon's acquisition system by increasing the power and accountability of the military service chiefs.
The Defense Department is in the process of prioritizing which legacy weapon systems should receive resources in fiscal year 2017 that would go toward "hardening" them against cyber attacks, according to the Pentagon's No. 2 official.
The planned exit of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has upended the political calculus on Capitol Hill concerning the preservation of U.S. defense spending in fiscal year 2016, while Congress is poised to remain mired in partisan gridlock even if a short-term continuing resolution is passed to temporarily stave off a government shutdown.
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work released a memo to the Pentagon workforce Friday morning alerting employees to the possibility of a federal government shutdown on Oct. 1 if Congress does not pass a budget deal or a stopgap spending measure to buy time.
Representatives from three of the most influential defense industry associations met with Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall last week, the Pentagon has confirmed to InsideDefense.com.
Congressional officials trying to avert a long-term continuing resolution are asking the Defense Department to update its April 2014 sequestration impact report, though the Pentagon has made no plans to do so, InsideDefense.com has learned.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) has offered the first congressional proposal for a short-term continuing resolution that would fund the federal government until Dec. 11, while defunding Planned Parenthood and providing $74.4 billion to the Defense Department in overseas contingency operations funding.
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's chief acquisition executive, is no longer scheduled to present the third annual acquisition system performance evaluation this week due to road closures resulting from the visit of Pope Francis to Washington.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter had a "constructive conversation" this morning with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoygu about Russian military activity in Syria and efforts to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, according to a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday that the Air Force would have budgetary priorities in fiscal year 2017 that are similar to the service's FY-16 request, but he warned that Congress would be putting the Defense Department in a "straightjacket" if lawmakers were to pass a long-term continuing resolution that would cap FY-16 spending at FY-15 levels.
The Defense Department is planning to cut headquarters staffs by 25 percent across the Pentagon between fiscal year 2017 and FY-20, according to a newly surfaced memo signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work.
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's acquisition chief, said Wednesday that ongoing "political gridlock" in Washington over the future of government spending has become the greatest threat facing the United States.
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's acquisition chief, on Wednesday sought to address concerns voiced by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and defense industry advocates over a new draft policy on commercial pricing.
A wide-ranging speech given Wednesday by Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's acquisition chief, provided updates to a variety of ongoing initiatives including cybersecurity, the Long Range Research and Development Plan and the new oversight system being crafted for services contracts.
The Army is spending between $6 billion and $7 billion per year in its overseas contingency operations account on "enduring" expenses that would normally be funded in its base budget, according to an executive summary of the service's fiscal year 2017-2021 program objective memorandum, obtained by InsideDefense.com.
The Defense Department has sent Congress a list of new-start acquisition programs and weapon system production increases that would be adversely affected should Capitol Hill remain snarled in budgetary gridlock and pass only a stopgap spending measure for fiscal year 2016, according to documents obtained by InsideDefense.com.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter is scheduled Friday to announce the Obama administration's plans to award a new Manufacturing Innovation Institute for Hybrid Electronics to a consortium of 162 companies, universities and nonprofits led by the FlexTech Alliance based in Silicon Valley, according to a Defense Department statement.
Defense industry advocates are far more supportive of Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall's new proposal to manage the Defense Department's independent research and development funding than they were of his initial effort to strengthen governmental oversight of the process.