Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Key Issues GAO on F-35 SLCM-N program office PrSM funding
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 Defense Department for the second year in a row failed to obtain a clean financial opinion from auditors and does not expect to achieve one for at least several years, though Pentagon officials say they are making steady progress.
The Defense Department Inspector General will not begin an investigation at this time into why the White House halted U.S. military aid to Ukraine, telling concerned Senate Democrats it does not wish to “overlap” with the House impeachment investigation into President Trump.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said partisan disagreement over how to address President Trump’s use of Pentagon money to fund the construction of a southern border wall continues to be the most contentious issue holding up the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill.
House impeachment investigators today released the testimony of Laura Cooper, the Pentagon official who oversees policy on Ukraine.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak around the Washington area this week, including at a congressional hearing on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The Defense Department is preparing to review its decades-old policy for paying contractors, including a look at how potential changes might impact the profits of defense companies.
President Trump intends to nominate Elaine McCusker to be Defense Department comptroller, according to a White House announcement.
House Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Pete Visclosky (D-IN) said today he does not plan to seek re-election in 2020.
The top three defense industry associations are scheduled to meet with a team of Pentagon acquisition officials today amid the finalization of significant changes to procurement policy.
Senior Senate Democrats are prodding the Defense Department inspector general to investigate previously held U.S. military aid to Ukraine, suggesting in a new letter that the watchdog office might be reluctant to get involved with a matter at the center of a House impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
House Republican lawmakers are warning about the damage they say a full-year continuing resolution will do to the Defense Department as Congress' overdue defense appropriations and authorization bills remain mired in partisan fights over President Trump's southern border wall.
Congress, despite having agreed to a broad budget deal, has begun looking for stopgaps and schedule extensions for the defense spending and policy bills, which are already overdue and remain stalled amid partisan fighting over President Trump's use of military construction funds to build a southern border wall.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak around the Washington area this week, while companies host quarterly earnings calls. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is also expected to release a "skinny version" of the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill.
Prior to her testimony before House impeachment investigators Wednesday, Pentagon official Laura Cooper and her attorney received a letter from Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist reiterating the administration's position that she did not have to cooperate with an inquiry the White House believes is illegitimate.
The Defense Department says its fiscal year 2019 military intelligence budget, which includes both base and Overseas Contingency Operations appropriations, was $21.5 billion, down from the $22.1 billion DOD spent in FY-18.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) is concerned the Air Force's $85 billion nuclear missile replacement will likely proceed with Northrop Grumman absent any competition, though he said he offered to help Boeing address its concerns about the program after the company announced it would not bid.
House Democrats and Senate Republicans are considering a "skinny" version of the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill as a backup plan in case they cannot compromise on how to address President Trump's use of military construction money to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Senior defense officials said today the Pentagon is honoring the White House's assertion of executive privilege as grounds for refusing to comply with a subpoena for documents sought in the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
A senior Pentagon official who oversees military policy on Ukraine is slated to testify this week before House committees conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to appear around the Washington area this week, while several defense companies are slated to hold quarterly earnings calls.