Monday, June 1, 2020
Key Issues NNSA report Iron Dome to CENTCOM LOGCAP V
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.
Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord said today the COVID-19 outbreak will delay all major programs by about three months and require Congress to supplement the Defense Department with "billions and billions" of dollars to reimburse contractors experiencing virus-related challenges.
Lockheed Martin is scheduled to report quarterly earnings this week. Meanwhile, all events around the Washington area remain curtailed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 300,000 Defense Department civilian workers, is pushing back against a congressional effort that would codify DOD's "Night Court" budget efficiency process.
House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX) is proposing a $6 billion Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative bill for fiscal year 2021 intended to enhance U.S. military presence in the region and deter China.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said today the Pentagon will conduct an "after action" review of its response to COVID-19 in the hopes it can harvest all "lessons learned."
The Defense Department has awarded a $415 million contract to Battelle Memorial Institute Critical Care Decontamination Systems for 60 systems that can decontaminate up to 80,000 N95 masks so they can be re-used up to 20 times.
At the beginning of the year, before the acceleration of the COVID-19 pandemic radically altered American society, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said one of his goals for 2020 was to position the Pentagon for the "irreversible implementation" of the National Defense Strategy and its new focus on great power competition with China and Russia.
The Pentagon will soon be awarding $133 million to U.S. companies to produce 39 million N95 masks over the next 90 days as part of its first Defense Production Act Title III action to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.
A group of Republican senators led by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is urging the Trump administration to "scrutinize" any transaction or investment the Chinese government or its state-controlled companies are making in the U.S. industrial base that could "undermine" national security.
The Senate Armed Services Committee, which must approve key nominations for the new Navy secretary and Pentagon inspector general, has decided to postpone plans to hold remote "paper hearings" until the COVID-19 situation becomes more clear, especially since the Defense Department has "struggled" to comply.
Three House committee chairmen are urging the Trump administration, especially the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Health and Human Services Department, to begin using the Defense Department's industrial base to produce medical supplies needed to stem the outbreak of COVID-19 and re-open the U.S. economy.
Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist said today the Pentagon is going to "streamline" its internal budget review process to allow more employees to telework during the COVID-19 outbreak.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said today he is working to include measures that would help the U.S. defense industrial base in an upcoming COVID-19 stimulus bill being crafted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Glenn Fine will no longer serve as the Defense Department's acting inspector general and will no longer chair the committee charged with overseeing the $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package Congress has passed, Inside Defense has learned.
The Pentagon said today a new payment policy aimed at helping defense contractors weather the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to provide industry with $3 billion in cash flow.
Defense Department acquisition officials have released answers to frequently asked questions about implementing new guidance to increase progress payments to contractors during the COVID-19 crisis.
President Trump today again invoked the Defense Production Act for more companies to speed the production of ventilators needed to treat people suffering from COVID-19.
House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX) has unveiled a standalone Pentagon reform bill he hopes to include in the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill.
House Armed Services Committee leaders say they hope to have the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill ready by May 1, though the COVID-19 outbreak means the legislation will be crafted in a much different and more "informal" way than in the past.
Several Ohio lawmakers, led by Rep. Mike Turner (R), have sent a letter to the Pentagon requesting better COVID-19 guidance be provided to the defense industrial base, especially those working at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.