The INSIDER daily digest -- Nov. 25, 2019

By John Liang / November 25, 2019 at 2:12 PM

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the firing of the top Navy civilian, plus a GAO report on Navy shipyard improvement costs and more.

We start off with some big news that broke over the weekend on a major Navy leadership shakeup:

Trump taps Braithwaite as new Navy secretary

President Trump announced Sunday night his plans to nominate U.S. Ambassador to Norway Ken Braithwaite to replace outgoing Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.

Esper says he fired Spencer after learning of 'secret proposal' from White House official

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said today he asked for the resignation of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer after being told by a senior White House official that Spencer had a made a "secret proposal" to President Trump concerning how he would handle the case of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes.

The Government Accountability Office is questioning the Navy's shipyard improvement plan cost estimate:

GAO says Navy shipyard plan could cost 'billions' more than service estimate

The Navy's methods for estimating the initial costs of its $21 billion plan to improve the four public shipyards create risks that "together could add billions to the ultimate cost," according to a government watchdog.

Document: GAO report on naval shipyards

We now have more details behind GAO's decision to sustain Blue Origin's Launch Services Procurement protest:

GAO releases public version of Blue Origin LSP protest decision

The GAO has released a public version of its full decision to sustain Blue Origin's protest of the Air Force's Launch Services Procurement effort, expanding on its conclusion that the solicitation does not comply with federal acquisition regulations.

Document: GAO decision on Blue Origin's launch services protest

In case you missed it, a senior Marine Corps officer spoke last week about the effects of a continuing resolution on his service:

Marine Corps general: 'Normalization' of CR creates risk

A Marine Corps general who serves as an adviser to the commandant expressed concern last week over the "normalization" of using stopgap continuing resolutions to fund the government.

Also in case you missed it, the Army's Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical had a meeting last week to discuss Capability Set 23, which is focused on increasing resiliency and capacity of the network through satellite communication:

Army outlines plans for second tactical network 'capability set'

The Army recently outlined its plans to develop and field the next tactical network capability set during a two-day industry event in Austin, TX.

205602