Tuesday, August 21, 2018
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.
703-562-8742Senior members of the Senate Budget Committee, concerned it may take the Defense Department 10 years to achieve a clean financial audit, are asking the Government Accountability office to review the matter, with a special focus on whether DOD is acquiring the proper information technology systems to do the job.
The "Big Four" House and Senate defense authorizers agree that a conference committee should be able to finalize a compromise version of the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill by the end of this month, despite several differences between them.
The Senate has appointed the conferees who will meet with House lawmakers today and begin discussing a final fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill.
The Pentagon’s influential Defense Science Board was tasked to study five key areas in emerging military technology in May 2017, but those efforts were paused following governmental reorganization from the presidential transition. The studies, which have been delayed by more than a year, are now being re-ordered.
House and Senate conferees will meet Wednesday to discuss the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill, according to an announcement from the House Armed Services Committee.
The Senate Appropriations Committee remains concerned the Defense Department does not have adequate policies and controls in place to enforce limitations on its annual amount of contracted services and is urging the Pentagon comptroller to review the matter.
House Democrats are urging President Trump to respect and defend NATO this week as he meets with America's key allies and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
There appears to be a "significant" geographic shift underway in where the Pentagon obligates its contracting dollars, with spending in the region of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command trending especially upward, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The Pentagon is working with the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments to begin housing thousands of undocumented immigrants at two Texas military bases in the coming weeks and expects to be reimbursed for the cost.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is traveling to the NATO summit in Brussels this week, while Congress returns from recess.
"Burden sharing" will be a key theme at the upcoming NATO summit in Brussels next week, though President Trump will not explicitly threaten to withdraw American troops if European nations fail to pledge to increase military spending, according to senior U.S. officials who briefed reporters today.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have named additional lawmakers to serve as conferees for the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill.
The Pentagon is considering several weapon systems for new rapid prototyping authority granted by Congress, including the Air Force's hypersonic conventional strike capability, F-22 aircraft modernization and two key Navy missile programs, Inside Defense has learned.
Objections raised by the Pentagon, including a call from the Air Force secretary, played a large role in the House voting down an amendment that would have redirected $1 billion in defense spending to procure new Virginia-class submarines, House Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) told reporters today.
The House voted 359-49 today to pass the fiscal year 2019 defense spending bill.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a fiscal year 2019 defense spending bill that rescinds $3.8 billion in prior-year funding for Pentagon programs lawmakers say are delayed or no longer needed, according to a summary provided by committee Democrats.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 30-1 today to advance the fiscal year 2019 defense spending bill to the full Senate.
The House voted today by unanimous consent to enter conference committee negotiations with the Senate on the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill.
The White House strongly objects to several provisions in the Senate's fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill, especially a section that would ban the Defense Department from doing business with Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, but the administration is not threatening to veto the legislation, according to a statement of administration policy from the Office of Management and Budget.
The White House opposes several provisions in the House's fiscal year 2019 defense appropriations bill, including one that blocks all funding for the Pentagon's planned shift toward cloud computing until the defense secretary provides Congress with a written strategy.
