The INSIDER daily digest -- March 3, 2025

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Defense Innovation Unit, transnational criminal organizations in U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility, the MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter program and more.

A new Government Accountability Office report recommends the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit "establish performance goals and metrics for DIU 3.0; establish a process to collect, assess, and use performance information for DIU 3.0; and develop and implement a process to assess defense innovation community collaboration":

Watchdog says DIU 'does not know if it is making progress'

The Pentagon's innovation arm lacks clear insight into whether it is making headway toward achieving its strategic goal of leveraging commercial technology and innovation to meet critical operational gaps, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Document: GAO report on the DIU

The head of U.S. Southern Command was on Capitol Hill recently, talking about the threat of transnational organized crime groups in his area of responsibility:

Criminal orgs amass 'staggering' sums, outpace defense spending across SOUTHCOM

Transnational criminal organizations operating across Latin America and the Caribbean amassed a "staggering" $358 billion in revenue last year -- six times the combined defense budgets of all nations in the region including Mexico -- posing a growing strategic challenge to the United States, according to a senior official.

Document: Senate hearing on SOUTHCOM, NORTHCOM

Inside Defense recently interviewed the Boeing executive in charge of building the Air Force's MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter program:

Grey Wolf helos began IOT&E in January; all outstanding issues mitigated

The Air Force's nascent MH-139 Grey Wolf program is "hitting the ground running" in fiscal year 2025, according to an executive for the helicopter-maker, with initial operational test and evaluation starting as planned in January despite outstanding issues threatening its timeline at the end of last year.

During a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said she and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) have asked acting Navy Secretary Terrence Emmert to work with the Office of Personnel Management to exempt public shipyard employees from sweeping federal layoffs:

Lawmakers concerned Pentagon layoffs will undercut ship maintenance

Senate Democrats are worried the Pentagon's plan to shrink its civilian workforce could further inhibit on-time ship and submarine maintenance if workers are laid off at the nation's public shipyards.

Document: Senators' letter on Navy shipyard layoff exemptions

The commanding general of the Army's Combined Arms Support Command spoke at a recent conference hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association:

Army autonomous truck system slowed by CR

Lack of a full-year appropriation is shelving funding and bumping timelines for the Army's Autonomous Transport Vehicle System, set to be the largest transformation to the service's sustainment community since it debuted trucks in 1915, a senior Army official said at a Tactical Wheeled Vehicles conference in Reston, VA, Feb. 25.