Tuesday, February 11, 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 has released a detailed cost analysis of U.S. operations to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has totaled $2.74 billion from Aug. 8, 2014, to June 4, 2015, at an average daily cost of $9.1 million.
As lawmakers on Capitol Hill consider defense acquisition reform legislation that would increase the role of the military service chiefs at the expense of the Pentagon's civilian authorities, the Government Accountability Office has released a report highlighting the fundamental contours of the debate.
The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee is reporting a fiscal year 2016 bill to the full committee that adds nearly $3 billion to the Defense Department's $107 billion procurement request, as well as an additional $540 million to DOD's $70 billion research and development request, according to unreleased funding tables obtained by InsideDefense.com.
President Obama has authorized the Pentagon to deploy up to 450 additional U.S. personnel for a "non-combat role" to expand the training and advising of the Iraqi army, according to a Defense Department statement.
The Obama administration has issued another veto threat as the full House takes up its version of the fiscal year 2016 defense appropriations bill.
The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee approved a fiscal year 2016 spending bill Tuesday that would provide $490 billion in base budget funding for the Pentagon, accompanied by an $87 billion overseas contingency operations account, but top-ranking lawmakers are resigned to the long, partisan budget clash that lies ahead.
Shay Assad, the Pentagon's pricing director, provided details Monday on the Defense Department's new and ongoing efforts to enable acquisition program managers to better assess commercial products and services.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter today nominated Air Force Gen. Darren W. McDew to become the next chief of U.S. Transportation Command, according to a Defense Department announcement.
The U.S. ambassador to India believes a newly updated defense pact between the United States and the world's largest democracy will enable a decade of cooperation, the likes of which the global security environment has never seen.
The White House has thrown down the latest gauntlet in a simmering conflict between Senate lawmakers and the Pentagon over acquisition reform proposals championed by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would strengthen the role of military service chiefs at the expense of Defense Department civilians currently responsible for the process.
The Government Accountability Office has found that oversight from the office of the Pentagon's chief weapons tester, often criticized for being too intense and bureaucratic, has actually resulted in "few significant disputes and limited program cost and schedule increases," according to a June 2 report.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) on Tuesday dismissed concerns voiced recently by the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer regarding pending legislation that would strengthen the role of the military services chiefs in the acquisition system.
As the House Appropriations Committee prepares to consider a fiscal year 2016 defense spending bill Tuesday, the director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget has sent the lawmakers a letter decrying recent GOP-led efforts to sidestep sequestration cuts in defense funding, while leaving 2011 Budget Control Act caps in place for non-defense spending.
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is seeking to establish a $500 million fund to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance needs of U.S. combatant commanders, according to draft legislation scheduled to be considered by the full committee Wednesday.
The White House is instructing the Defense Department and other government agencies to craft a fiscal year 2017 budget that is 5 percent below President Obama's FY-16 request, hewing to spending caps required by the 2011 Budget Control Act, but accompanied by a separate list of "additional investments" that account for another 5 percent in spending, according to a previously unreported memo quietly released by the Office of Management and Budget.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) has set a large agenda for the next 18 months, including a "strategic review" of the Pentagon's major acquisition programs to guide "future budgetary decisions," according to a new defense policy bill headed to the full Senate this summer.
Defense industry titan Lockheed Martin is poised to receive a $100 million financial incentive package from the state of Arkansas to help bolster its bid for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, according to company officials who spoke to InsideDefense.com.
The head of Northrop Grumman warned Tuesday that new and looming Pentagon regulations impacting the defense industry's reimbursable independent research and development (IRAD) funding could end up costing the Defense Department valuable innovation at a time when America needs it most.
Amid bruising budget battles on Capitol Hill, the Congressional Research Service reported recently that the Defense Department's spending plan for fiscal years 2016 through 2020 already accounts for three quarters of the savings mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act, noting that Congress would have to cut DOD by an average of 5 percent over the next six years to find the remaining savings required by law.
The ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee plans to propose a different fiscal year 2016 budget than what the GOP has crafted, including a new spending blueprint for the Defense Department that rejects a nearly $90 billion overseas contingency operations fund being supported by House appropriators.