The INSIDER daily digest

Missile defense, the Army's WIN-T program and more highlight this Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

The head of the Missile Defense Agency was on Capitol Hill this morning:

MDA putting new, distributed sensor network on orbit for kill assessment experiment

The Missile Defense Agency has begun putting on orbit new sensors attached to a commercial satellite constellation and plans by next year to have in place nearly two-dozen small payloads to collectively form the Spacebased Kill Assessment project, an effort that aims to assess the feasibility of disaggragating key missile defense capabilities resident in large satellites.

Document: Senate appropriators' hearing on MDA's FY-17 budget request

Lots of House lawmakers really don't like the Army's spending plan for the WIN-T program:

Lawmakers decry funding cuts for major Army communications program

Scores of House lawmakers have written to acting Army Secretary Patrick Murphy to criticize the service for its planned spending on the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program.

Document: House lawmakers' letter to the Army on WIN-T

GAO has a new report out on the Army's force structure:

Auditors criticize Army analysis of 'enabler' forces in drawdown plans

The Army should conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of its plan to prioritize combat forces over so-called 'enablers,' as the service reduces its end strength to 980,000 soldiers by fiscal year 2018, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Document: GAO report on Army force structure

Our continuing coverage of the Space Symposium in Colorado:

ULA expects to isolate root cause of Atlas V anomaly in the next few days

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- The United Launch Alliance said this week it will know "in the next few days" which component caused an anomaly in its Atlas V launch vehicle.

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DOD has reduced the number of workers with security clearances:

Report: Pentagon security clearances down 20 percent since FY-13

The number of Defense Department workers with security clearances has fallen by about 20 percent since fiscal year 2013, according to a recent briefing obtained by the Federation of American Scientists.

A new CRS report looks at the Army's combat vehicles:

Report spotlights questions over Stryker lethality plans

Lawmakers weighing the Army's decision to increase lethality for all Stryker vehicles should examine the overall costs, requisite modifications and determine whether the upgrades would address current and future threats, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service.

Document: CRS report on Army combat vehicles

The Senate Armed Services emerging threats subcommittee held a hearing this week on DOD's technology offsets initiative:

SCO provides most detailed accounting to date of once-secret projects

The Pentagon's once-secretive innovation shop charged with gaining back conventional combat advantages against potential near-peer adversaries such as China and Russia provided the most complete public accounting of its work during a congressional hearing Tuesday.

Document: Senate hearing on DOD's technology offsets initiative