The Insider

House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) is praising Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), the panel's top Democrat and a big Boeing proponent, following Dicks' announcement today that he plans to retire from Congress at the end of the year.

“Norm Dicks and I have been friends and colleagues for many years, and I have rarely had the chance to work with someone of his decency, strong work ethic, jovial character, and honesty," Rogers said in a statement. "He has served this institution with dignity and a true dedication to the people of the 6th District of Washington. Despite our ideological differences, Norm has never hesitated to work together to maintain the comity and spirit of bipartisanship that is the hallmark of the Appropriations Committee. I look forward to working side by side with Norm over the next few months, and will truly miss his presence in the next Congress. I wish him all the best in this next stage of life.”

The Pentagon's cost assessment and program evaluation office is slated to get a new addition to its leadership team, according to a Defense Department statement issued today:

Army Lt. Gen. Robert P. Lennox has been nominated for reappointment to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment as principal deputy director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C.  Lennox is currently serving as deputy chief of staff, G-8, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

According to his official bio, Lennox has held his current post since November 2009, and is "responsible for integration and programming across the Army to meet the current and future force requirements." Further:

Lieutenant General Lennox graduated in 1977 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering. He also holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Stanford University, and a Masters Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the National Defense University. Lieutenant General Lennox's military education includes the Air Defense Artillery Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Combined Arms Services Staff School, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the National War College.

Lieutenant General Lennox's last assignment was as the Director, Army Quadrennial Defense Review. His previous assignments include: Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7; Commanding General, United States Army Air Defense Artillery Center and Fort Bliss, Texas; Deputy Commanding General/Chief of Staff United States Army Accessions Command; Deputy Commanding General/Deputy for Operations, United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command; Deputy Commanding General, United States Army Air Defense Artillery Center and Fort Bliss; Director, Army Staff Transition Coordination Team, Office of the Chief of Staff, Army; Commander, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade; Missile Defense Planner, Sea, Air and Space Superiority Assessment Division, J-8 the Joint Staff; Commander, 1st Battalion (Avenger) 2nd Air Defense Artillery; Chief, G-3 (Plans and Exercises), 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, United States Army Europe and Seventh Army; Executive Officer, 4th Battalion (PATRIOT), 43rd Air Defense Artillery, 32nd Army Air Defense Command, United States Army Europe and Seventh Army, Germany and OPERATION DETERMINED RESOLVE, Saudi Arabia; Instructor/Course Director, later Assistant Professor, later Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point; Operations Officer, 1st Battalion 67th Air Defense Artillery, 9th Infantry Division; Assistant Division Air Defense Officer, 9th Infantry Division; Commander, C Battery, 1st Battalion 67th Air Defense Artillery, 9th Infantry Division; Platoon Leader B Battery, later Battery Executive Officer, C Battery, and later Battalion Adjutant of the 1st Battalion, 62 Air Defense Artillery, 25th Infantry Division.

Check out the CAPE office's latest reports:

DOD FY-10 Annual Report On Cost Assessment Activities

DOD FY-09 Annual Report On Cost Assessment Activities

The Pentagon never considered making cuts to its cybersecurity funding as it searched for nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts over the next decade, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said today.

Speaking at a information security event, Carter said the Defense Department would increase its investments in the cyber area if it could find worthy investments. He noted that DOD is requesting several billion dollars for cyber capabilities but could make room for more dollars if necessary.

Carter added that DOD wants to be “the firstest with the mostest” when it comes to cyber technologies, which means supporting innovations and providing platforms or ranges for the experimentation on and testing of cyber technologies, both offensive and defensive.

DOD can also make investments that are risky or whose payoff is long-term, Carter said.

On the eve of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Air Force's fiscal year 2013 budget request, the adjutants general of all the U.S. states and territories are expressing their concern over how the budget request affects the Air National Guard.

In a Feb. 27 letter to committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and Ranking Member John McCain (R-AZ), the adjutants general write:

Although we have been excluded from the Air Force budget process, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz asked eight (8) Adjutants General to meet with them yesterday morning (Sunday, February 26, 2012). The dialogue was respectful, comprehensive and candid. At the end of the meeting, our colleagues reaffirmed our concerns with the flawed processes, assumptions and criteria that produced the Air Force budget request. The undersigned therefore request your support for an immediate comprehensive and inclusive review of the Air Force submission. Implementation of the Air Force 2013 budget request should be frozen pending the results of an open and transparent review process.

It is counterintuitive that the Air National Guard, which comprises 21% of the uniformed members of the Total Air Force, would bear 59% of the total aircraft cuts and approximately six times the per capita personnel cuts, especially in light of our country’s current and foreseeable fiscal posture. The Air National Guard has the highest experience levels in the total force, the lowest base operating expenses and by far the lowest life cycle costs (including lower retirement and medical costs). The Guard is the only military component that can serve the President and our Governors and the only component underwritten by shared state-federal cost arrangements.

Click here to read the rest of the letter.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced in a statement this morning that it had notified Congress of a proposed $105 million foreign military sale of "80 AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder Block II All-Up-Round Missiles and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support." Further:

This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.

The Kuwait Air Force is modernizing its fighter aircraft to better support its own air defense needs. The proposed sale of AIM-9X-2 missiles will enhance Kuwait’s interoperability with the U.S. and among other Central Command nations, making it a more valuable partner in an increasingly important area of the world.

The proposed sale of this weapon system will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The prime contractor will be Raytheon Missile Systems Company in Tucson, Arizona. There are no known offset agreements in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will require travel of U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Kuwait on a temporary basis for program technical support and management oversight.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

Other recent DSCA news includes:

DSCA Statement On FY-11 Foreign Military Sales

In a Dec. 3, 2011, statement, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced that U.S. foreign military sales passed the $30 billion mark for the fourth consecutive year, with the fiscal year 2011 total reaching $34.8 billion.

DSCA Letter To Congress On Proposed Patriot Systems Engineering Services Sale

In a Dec. 22, 2011, letter, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency informs Congress of a proposed $120 million foreign military sale of Patriot missile systems engineering services to Saudi Arabia.

DSCA Letter To Congress On Proposed $304 Million JDAM Sale To UAE

In a Nov. 29, 2011, letter, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency informs Congress of a proposed $304 million foreign military sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions and related equipment.

DSCA Letter To Congress On Proposed F-16 Sale To Indonesia

In a Nov. 16, 2011, letter, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency informs Congress of a proposed $750 million sale of 24 F-16C/D Block 25 fighter aircraft and related parts to Indonesia.

DSCA Letter To Congress On Proposed EMALS/AAG Sale To Great Britain

In a Nov. 15, 2011, letter, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency informs Congress of a proposed $200 million sale of "long-lead subassemblies" for the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System/Advanced Arresting Gear to the United Kingdom.

DSCA Letter To Congress On $300 Million Proposed Aircraft Sale To Australia

In a Nov. 15, 2011, letter, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency informs Congress of a potential $300 million sale of a C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft and related equipment and services to Australia.

On today's anniversary of the U.S. flag raised at Iwo Jima, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey released a white paper on a pet project of his: the profession of arms. The document's intent, Dempsey wrote in a Defense Department website blog post, is to foster debate on the subjects of trust, leadership and ethics among service members.

“Professionalism and jointness are perishable, they must be cultivated,” Dempsey wrote in the white paper.

In early April, the Army is expected to release a detailed report on the state of the ground service's profession. Unlike the somewhat promotional six-page white paper released today, the upcoming Army report amounts to a detailed survey giving voice to soldiers' attitudes, concerns and expectations.

Indications from earlier versions of the survey are that the service will have to address trust as a weak point in the Army fabric.

The Congressional Research Service last week issued a report on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The report (originally obtained by Secrecy News) states:

The F-35 program is behind schedule and over budget. Congress may wish to review the causes of these issues, whether the plan put forward in February 2010 and subsequent procurement delay in February 2012 are sufficient to recover schedule and stabilize costs, and/or the credibility of projections by DOD, GAO, and others regarding the program's likely future performance.

Inside the Navy recently reviewed a Defense Department report to Congress, which found that three of the five fixes to the Marine Corps' short-takeoff, vertical-landing JSF variant involve a temporary solution with a more permanent fix needed later on, and one of those fixes would require corrective action on the part of the pilot in some cases. ITN further reported this week:

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Jan. 20 that the F-35B would come off of its two-year probation a year early because the JSF program office had found engineering fixes for each of the five problems identified on the aircraft. In a report to Congress on the F-35B's probation status also dated Jan. 20, Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's acting under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, detailed the F-35B's problems and explained what fixes the program is implementing.

The report focused on five areas: the bulkhead (cracking developed after 1,500 hours of fatigue testing); the upper lift fan door (vortices of air were rolling off the door, creating excessive loads on the auxiliary air inlet doors); the lift fan clutch (crews encountered clutch heating intermittently during up and away flight); the driveshaft (metal was expanding due to excessive heat, causing "thermal growth" which affected horizontal movement of the aircraft); and the roll control nozzle (the nozzle was overheating during STOVL operations at low air speeds of less than 60 knots).

Of those fixes, only two of those appear to be permanent, according to the report. The bulkhead has been "redesigned for production, with fixes identified for retrofit as needed," and fatigue testing on the aircraft resumed Jan. 19, the report states. That testing had been halted in November 2010.

The program also began flight testing on a redesigned upper auxiliary air inlet door in December, and "analyses of the results from early test flights are promising," the report states, adding: "Ordering of modification kits for aircraft retrofit began in parallel with this testing in order to gain clearance for fleet STOVL mode operation as soon as possible."

However, the program doesn't have permanent fixes for the three other problems yet. For the clutch heating issue, the program has incorporated a temperature sensor to alert the pilot to take corrective action "if the clutch exceeds acceptable temperatures." Meanwhile, the program has begun a detailed root cause investigation for a permanent fix.

Last week, Inside the Air Force reported that the service is budgeting to spend $29.5 billion on all aspects of the JSF over the next five years, including about $1 billion to pay for concurrency changes to early production aircraft. Further:

In its fiscal year 2013 budget request released this week, the Air Force announced it would slow its F-35 procurement rate, delaying the purchase of 98 F-35 aircraft into the future and saving money in the short term. But budget documents show that the service still hopes to invest close to $5 billion in the program in FY-13 alone, a year in which the Air Force will now procure 19 instead of the originally planned 24 jets.

The service will gradually buy more F-35s in the future years defense plan (FYDP) between FY-13 and FY-17, culminating with a purchase of 48 conventional-takeoff-and-landing JSFs in the final two years of the window. At this time last year, the Air Force planned to buy 80 per year by FY-17. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the program.

Lockheed spokeswoman Laurie Quincy said in a Feb. 14 statement that the company will work with the Defense Department to ensure the program continues to move forward, even as DOD buys fewer JSFs than expected in this five-year cycle. The Navy and Marine Corps also slowed their F-35 procurement rates, and in total, 179 aircraft were moved out of the FYDP.

"We understand the funding constraints that require the Department to reduce the number of aircraft procured to 29 in FY2013 and to move 179 aircraft out of the five-year plan, and we will continue to partner with the Department to implement the changes as efficiently as possible," the Lockheed statement reads. "We believe the program will stabilize around the new acquisition strategy, and we are confident that we will deliver an effective and affordable program."

Of the $4.9 billion the Air Force is requesting for FY-13, the majority -- $3.4 billion -- would go toward procurement. But the service is also planning to spend $1.2 billion to continue development and testing activities, as well as $148 million to retrofit jets already procured by the service to account for necessary concurrency changes.