The Insider

Listing.

COCOMS' integrated priority lists, up first:

Consolidated Combatant Commanders' Wish List Set To Influence FY-14 Budget

Top Defense Department officials have hammered out a new ranking of the military's most acute capability shortfalls, a classified list of potential Achilles' heels intended to help drive investment decisions between fiscal years 2014 and 2018.

On March 20, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council convened in the Pentagon to wrap up work on one of its most important annual tasks -- producing a consolidated list of combatant commander priorities, according to military officials.

This year marked the first time combatant commanders have participated in the five-month "capability gap assessment" process as full voting members of the JROC. Combatant commanders, who play only an ancillary role in DOD's budget process, were last year elevated by law to full membership on the JROC and now outnumber the four service vice chiefs of staff, who wield enormous influence over the military's purse strings.

"Combatant commanders were able to participate and get their voices heard on particular issues a lot more than in the past," Air Force Col. Keith Duffy told InsideDefense.com. Duffy, the planning and integration branch chief in the Joint Staff's J-8 Joint Capability Division, played a key role in finalizing the "integrated priority list."

Proposed.

A key document up next:

DOD's Second FY-13 Legislative Proposals Package

On March 28, 2012, the Defense Department submitted its second package of fiscal year 2013 legislative proposals.

Touches on subjects like this:

DOD Asks Congress To Ease Notification Mandates For Cost Increases

The Defense Department is asking Congress to water down statutory notification requirements for major acquisition programs with soaring costs tied to quantity cuts.

In a legislative proposal sent to Capitol Hill last week, the Pentagon proposes further reducing the statutory requirements for critical Nunn-McCurdy breaches caused primarily by quantity changes.

DOD Wants To Narrow Definition Of Commercial Item To Ensure Fair Prices

The Pentagon wants lawmakers to narrow the definition of a commercial item to ensure goods and services are acquired at fair and reasonable prices and to preclude abuse.

Pentagon Seeks To Add Nine Countries To 'High Income' List

The Pentagon wants Congress to designate nine more countries, including four in the Middle East, as "high income," which would enable these governments to pay for military training at an incremental rate as part of the foreign military sales program.

DOD Asks Congress To Exempt DOE Work From Mandated Reviews

To avoid interruptions in critical national security activities, Congress should let Energy Department procurement efforts that support the Defense Department sidestep mandated inspector-general reviews, the Pentagon argues in a recent legislative proposal.

Cyber Concept.

Moving on to the front page of today's Inside the Pentagon:

New Joint Cyber Concept, Blessed By STRATCOM, Nears Dempsey's Desk

U.S. Strategic Command has approved a new joint concept to support major decisions about doctrine and resources for cyberspace operations, a key step toward final approval of the document by the military's top officer.

The Joint Concept for Cyberspace, designed to help military forces grapple with fundamental questions about cyberwarfare in the 2020s, now bears the signature of STRATCOM chief Gen. Robert Kehler and will ultimately land on the desk of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey for final approval. In the interim, STRATCOM officials must brief the document, roughly 55 pages, to key Joint Staff officials who oversee military requirements.

"The Joint Concept for Cyberspace will form the basis of joint warfighting doctrine and resourcing decisions to provide the joint force commander with the means to achieve and sustain cyberspace superiority," STRATCOM spokesman Rodney Ellison told Inside the Pentagon.

Legal Eagles.

Another front-pager, this one suggesting a need for more help on legal issues at the Pentagon:

Panetta Poised To Stand Up Defense Legal Policy Board

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta plans to create a blue-ribbon panel to advise the Defense Department on an array of complex legal policy matters, according to DOD officials and documents.

A defense official said the spectrum of issues awaiting the new Defense Legal Policy Board could include the targeted killing of individuals abroad; the process of trying terrorism suspects in military courtrooms; and matters related to major crimes committed by deployed service members, including requirements for status-of-forces agreements and the way the department processes major crimes.

On March 30, the Pentagon submitted a draft charter for the new panel to the General Services Administration, which has since approved the document.

DOCUMENT ALERT:

Defense Legal Policy Board Charter

The March 30, 2012, Office of the Secretary of Defense memo lays out the charter of the Defense Legal Policy Board.

Performance Review.

The IG gets busy:

Pentagon IG To Scrutinize DOD's Use Of Performance-Based Payments

The Pentagon's inspector general has launched a broad review of the award and administration of performance-based payments in Defense Department contracts.

The objective of this audit is to determine whether DOD officials negotiated and administered performance-based payment milestones in DOD contracts in accordance with selected Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements, according to a March 22 memo signed by Lorin Venable, the acting assistant inspector general for DOD payments and accounting operations.

"Specifically, we will determine whether DOD properly negotiated, verified, and disbursed performance-based payments," Venable writes. The memo is addressed to acting Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall, DOD Comptroller Robert Hale, service officials and defense agencies.

DOCUMENT ALERT:

DOD IG Memo On Performance-Based Payment Contracts Audit

In a March 22, 2012, memo, the Defense Department inspector general's office announces it would undertake an audit "to determine whether DOD officials negotiated and administered performance-based payment milestones in DOD contracts in accordance with selected Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements."

High Energy.

One more item of note today:

New Charter: Operational Energy Board To Serve As Forum, Review Plans

The Defense Department has released a new charter defining the membership, procedures and functions of the Defense Operational Energy Board, which will serve to review, synchronize and support department-wide operational energy policies, plans and programs.

DOCUMENT ALERT:

Defense Operational Energy Board Charter

On March 22, 2012, the Pentagon issued a charter establishing the Defense Operational Energy Board.

The

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today called Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka to discuss developments related to North Korea's announcement that it plans to conduct a missile launch in mid-April, according to Pentagon Press Secretary George Little.

"Secretary Panetta and Defense Minister Tanaka reiterated their view that such a missile launch would directly violate North Korea's international obligations and U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874," Little said in a statement. "They also affirmed the importance of the U.S.-Japan Alliance in defense of Japan and in contributing to regional peace and security. Both leaders agreed to continue close contact leading up to and following a potential missile launch."

During March 30 remarks aboard the amphibious ship Peleliu (LHA-5), Panetta cited the potential missile launch. "In North Korea they're threatening to fire a missile and they've done this before," he said. "We thought we were in a period of accommodation with them. Now it looks like we're in a period of provocation with the Koreans -- North Koreans. And so you never quite know."

A new Canadian report on the F-35 program criticizes the Canadian defense ministry's handling of the procurement process for the multibillion-dollar endeavor. Issued by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, the 42-page report says the ministry did not appropriately plan with other Canadian government entities to manage the unique procurement aspects of the program. In a related statement, the auditor general notes that the defense ministry "did not acknowledge that the decision to purchase the F-35 was well under way four years before it was officially announced."

The audit report also states that the defense ministry "likely underestimated the full life-cycle costs of the F-35," adding that parliamentarians were not provided with complete cost information or fully informed about the risks involved. "The budgets for the F-35 acquisition (CAN$9 billion) and sustainment (CAN$16 billion) were initially established in 2008 without the aid of complete cost and other information," the report states. "Some of that information will not be available until years from now. If the budgets prove insufficient to cover total costs, the Department will have to find ways to cover additional costs that may be incurred. Alternatively, it may have to seek additional funds from the government or use funds from other parts of its capital or operating budgets."

The Globe and Mail reports the "scathing report . . . will fuel a political headache for the Harper government, which has ignored years of opposition attacks on the matter and which was fully committed to the F-35 until a few weeks ago."

The Government Accountability Office today released its annual "Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs," which GAO describes as an area on its "high-risk list."

From the summary:

The total estimated cost of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) 2011 portfolio of 96 major defense acquisition programs stands at $1.58 trillion. In the past year, the total acquisition cost of these programs has grown by over $74.4 billion or 5 percent, of which about $31.1 billion can be attributed to factors such as inefficiencies in production, $29.6 billion to quantity changes, and $13.7 billion to research and development cost growth. DOD’s portfolio is dominated by a small number of programs, with the Joint Strike Fighter accounting for the most cost growth in the last year, and the largest projected future funding needs. The majority of the programs in the portfolio have lost buying power in the last year as their program acquisition unit costs have increased. The number of programs in the portfolio has decreased from 98 to 96 in the past year and, looking forward, is projected to decrease again next fiscal year to its lowest level since 2004.

In the past 3 years, GAO has reported that newer programs are demonstrating higher levels of knowledge at key decision points. However, most of the 37 programs GAO assessed this year are still not fully adhering to a knowledge-based acquisition approach. Of the eight programs from this group that passed through one of three key decision points in the acquisition process in the past year, only one—Excalibur Increment Ib—implemented all of the applicable knowledge-based practices. As a result, most of these programs will carry technology, design, and production risks into subsequent phases of the acquisition process that could result in cost growth or schedule delays.

GAO also assessed the implementation of selected acquisition reforms and found that most of the 16 future programs we assessed have implemented key provisions of the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009. Programs have also started to implement new DOD initiatives, such as developing affordability targets and conducting “should cost” analysis. Finally, as could be expected from the increased activity early in the acquisition cycle, the 16 future programs we assessed are planning to spend more funds in technology development than current major defense acquisition programs.

The Air Force plans to hold a Pentagon briefing tomorrow at noon on the F-22A Raptor's oxygen-generation system, according to a Defense Department announcement issued this afternoon.

The briefers will be retired Air Force Gen. Gregory Martin, chair of the Scientific Advisory Board study on the F-22; Maj. Gen. Noel Jones, director of operational capability requirements and deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements; and Maj. Gen. Charlie Lyon, Air Combat Command's director of operations, the statement reads, adding:

They will provide an update on the secretary of the Air Force-directed study into the systems safety issues involving F-22 oxygen generation systems and discuss F-22 operations since the September 2011 return to fly order.

For more info on the F-22A, check out InsideDefense.com's recent coverage:

New Air Force Program To Execute F-22A Pre-Planned Improvement Package

F-22 Crash Review Marks IG's First In-Depth Mishap Assessment Since 1990s

Air Force Chief Defends F-22A Crash Investigation Report

DOD IG Launches Assessment Of F-22A Crash Report That Blamed Pilot

For the latest military aircraft news, check out InsideDefense.com's Aircraft Alert.

The Defense Department will ask Congress for more funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said today.

"The Department of Defense has been in conversations with the Government of Israel about U.S. support for the acquisition of additional Iron Dome systems and intends to request an appropriate level of funding from Congress to support such acquisitions based on Israeli requirements and production capacity," Little said this afternoon in a statement.

Supporting the security of the State of Israel is a "top priority" of President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Little said, noting the United States has previously provided $205 million in support of Israel’s Iron Dome short-range rocket and mortar defense system.

"During the rocket attacks earlier this month, the Iron Dome system played a critical role in Israel's security," Little said. "When nearly 300 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel, Iron Dome intercepted over 80 percent of the targets it engaged, saving many civilian lives."

During a speech this morning, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) had some nice things to say about the Missile Defense Agency's efforts to fight counterfeit parts in its supply chain:

Last year, our Armed Services Committee investigated counterfeit electronics parts in Defense Department weapon systems.  We found 1,800 cases in the supply chain involving more than 1 million counterfeit parts -- overwhelmingly from China.  The Missile Defense Agency was not immune to the problem.  But under [agency Director] General [Patrick] O'Reilly's leadership, MDA has tackled the issue head-on.  General O'Reilly created some of the strongest protections in the Department of Defense to protect our weapons from counterfeit electronic parts.  Our contractors cooperated with our investigation. They have much at stake in protecting the systems on which our security depends from this flood of counterfeit parts.