The Insider

By Sebastian Sprenger
January 4, 2010 at 5:00 AM

Defense officials should use the Northern Distribution Network as a springboard to create an even larger web of trade routes across Asia, according to a recent report penned by researchers at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Dubbed the "Modern Silk Road," this network of travel lanes would help foster urgently needed economic development in Afghanistan and its neighbors, the authors argue in their Dec. 17, 2009, report.

For example, administration officials should work toward new routes through Iran, China and India, the report suggests.

While the challenges associated with these routes are apparent, the United States should put forth a concerted effort to gain access to them. (After all, who could have predicted that U.S. military supplies would be traversing Russia and Uzbekistan?)

During the last year Pentagon officials readied a vast network of supply routes used for shipping military supplies from Europe to the war in Afghanistan.

At the same time, defense leaders have waived U.S. policies that would normally prohibit the Pentagon from doing business with many Central Asian countries allowing NDN shipments through their territories.

By Christopher J. Castelli
January 4, 2010 at 5:00 AM

Northrop Grumman announced today it will move its corporate office from Los Angeles to the Washington, DC, region by 2011. The company is searching for a location in the District, Maryland or Virginia, according to the company's statement, which says the search will be complete by spring 2010 and the new corporate office will open by summer 2011.

"As a global security company with a large customer base in the Washington, DC region, this move will enable us to better serve our nation and customers," said Wes Bush, chief executive officer and president. Northrop says the new corporate office will include about 300 people.

By Sebastian Sprenger
December 30, 2009 at 5:00 AM

Army officials plan to develop the Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle airship outside the restrictions of the normal acquisition process, the service announced this week.

Internally, leaders already have approved the move to run the effort using a so-called "Other Transaction Agreement" authority, according to a Dec. 29 notice on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site. The plan, aimed at attracting companies "that do not traditionally do business" with the Defense Department, was still pending congressional notification yesterday, the notice reads.

Congress originally authorized the OTA arrangement in the Fiscal Year 1994 National Defense Authorization Act to foster industry cooperation in Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency programs.

Army officials envision an OTA for a five-year technology demonstration, including fabrication of an LEMV airship, payload integration and support, according to the FedBizOpps notice. The vehicle will first be tested within 18 months, with follow-on field field tests scheduled to take place in Afghanistan, it adds.

The basic performance requirements for the LEMV airship include: optionally unmanned; 3 week endurance; 2500 pound payload capability; operating altitude of 20,000 feet above mean sea level, 16 kilowatts of payload power; multi-intelligence capable; supportable from austere locations; 80 knot dash speed and 20 knot station keep speed.

Service officials plan to release a request for proposals for the LEMV OTA on Jan. 29, 2010, according to the notice.

By Jason Sherman
December 30, 2009 at 5:00 AM

Army Lt. Gen. Michael Oates took command today of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, the Pentagon shop charged with focusing full-time on what the Defense Department's No. 2 official said is “the single most deadly threat facing our troops in the field today” -- roadside bombs.

Oates, previously commander of the Army's 10th Mountain Division (Light), replaced Lt. Gen Thomas Metz, who is retiring.

In a change of command ceremony at the Pentagon auditorium, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn noted that Oates' recent operational experience sharpen skills essential to fighting complex bureaucratic battles. Congressional investigators have questioned JIEDDO's financial management as recently as this October said JIEDDO and the military services need to improve coordination of their respective counter-IED efforts.

Not long ago, Gen. Oates served in southern Iraq -- one of the most politically charged places we’re deployed,” Lynn said, according to a transcript. “There, a Shi’a religious hierarchy and network of powerful tribes operate outside the government. At every turn, Gen. Oates had to navigate shifting alliances, uncover hidden agendas, and strike delicate political arrangements.

“We believe that was excellent training for taking the command of JIEDDO,” Lynn said.

Ba dum dum, tsh.

Seriously, the deputy defense secretary said that in Afghanistan, only 10 percent of roadside bomb attacks manage to wound or kill U.S. forces.

“Yet this success rate is not good enough,” he said, according to the transcript

In Afghanistan, we are up against a determined and clever foe who mastered the use of this deadly technology long before our forces set foot in the mountains of the Hindu-Kush.

Recent translations of Soviet General Staff studies reveal that the Soviets lost nearly 2,000 soldiers and 1,200 vehicles to IEDs during their nine-year Soviet-Afghan war.

That IEDs have defeated another technologically advanced military, in the very same place we fight now, only adds to the urgency of our mission.

And IEDs have implications far beyond the battlefields we fight on today. In the past month, terrorists have detonated improvised explosive devices on five continents. Russia, Spain, and the UK have all seen deadly IED-attacks.

By Jason Sherman
December 29, 2009 at 5:00 AM

Al Qaida's Yemen branch claim of responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a commercial airliner approaching Detroit is evidence of what U.S. military commanders have long suspected -- that the Middle Eastern nation could become a base for launching attacks against the United States.

In FY-09, U.S. Central Command in conjunction with the State Department, designed four counter-terrorism programs worth $67.2 million to improve aerial surveillance, border security, maritime patrol capability and U.S. and allied forces’ ability to counter improvised explosive devices, InsideDefense.com first reported on Sept. 21.

These projects in Yemen are being carried out using so-called Section 1206 authorities, designed to finance security assistance operations that bolster the capacity of partner nations to conduct stability and counterterrorism operations. In FY-09, the Pentagon funded projects in 16 nations worth $344 million.

The four projects in Yemen collectively represent the second largest allocation of Section 1206 resources in FY-09; $112.9 million is going to fund five projects in Pakistan, including one to provide four Russian-built Mi-17 helicopters.

By Sebastian Sprenger
December 29, 2009 at 5:00 AM

Mobile, AL -- Visitors to this city could get the impression workers here are already close to cranking out copies of the Air Force's new aerial refueling tanker. Driving westward on Interstate 10, near the Duval Street exit, motorists see a Northrop Grumman billboard with the message, "Welcome to Mobile, future home of the KC-45."

Of course, no decision has been made as to which company will get the multibillion-dollar contract.

Whatever the billboard is supposed to project, it reflects a sort of regional tension over the tanker saga that is not normally felt in Washington. (There is also a certain irony about the advertisement, given that Northrop has threatened to drop out of the competition.)

The local newspaper has reported at length about the skirmishes on Capitol Hill between lawmakers backing either Boeing's or Northrop Grumman's bid. Shortly before Christmas, the Mobile Press-Register ran an editorial proclaiming a "new civil war" over aircraft production pitting the Pacific Northwest against a "rising challenger in the Southeast."

There should be much more for Mobilians to discuss once Pentagon officials unveil the final request for proposals for the tanker in the coming weeks. There may even be new billboards.

By Dan Dupont
December 28, 2009 at 5:00 AM

The president today announced a bevy of new appointments for top admirals, including the assignment of Rear Adm. Terry Benedict as director of strategic systems programs for the Navy. Benedict is the program executive officer for integrated warfare systems.

More:

Rear Adm. Julius S. Caesar will be assigned as vice director, joint concept development and experimentation, J9, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Suffolk, Va. Caesar previously served as deputy commander, Navy Installations Command, Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. (lower half) James D. Cloyd will be assigned as commander, Carrier Strike Group Five, Yokosuka, Japan. Cloyd previously served as associate director, Assessment Division, N81D, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Edward S. Hebner will be assigned as commander, Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command, San Diego, Calif. Hebner is currently serving as commander, Carrier Strike Group Seven, San Diego, Calif.

Rear Adm. Christopher J. Mossey will be assigned as commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command and chief of civil engineers, Washington, D.C. Mossey is currently serving as director, Ashore Readiness Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and vice commander, Navy Installations Command, Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. Michael S. O’Bryan will be assigned as commander, Navy Air and Missile Defense Command, Dahlgren, Va. O’Bryan is currently serving as director, Navy Maritime Domain Awareness, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

By Sebastian Sprenger
December 24, 2009 at 5:00 AM

Defense Department leaders have afforded the military medical community a direct line into senior Pentagon strategy and program deliberations, a move that could enable improved visibility of health-related readiness and cost issues.

A new Military Health System Strategic Analysis Working Group (SAWG) will be responsible for providing assessments to what is known in jargon as the Pentagon's analytic agenda, according to a recent DOD instruction.

The first step toward that end is the development of a "baseline"with respect to "both forces and enabler of medical capabilities, to include medical forces and health service support capabilities," the Dec. 18 document reads.

As one of several new duties for the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, that official will assist the DOD policy office in crafting defense planning scenarios, which are fundamental to DOD strategy development, the instruction reads.

By Marjorie Censer
December 23, 2009 at 5:00 AM

The materiel development decision for the Army's ground combat vehicle effort -- which would replace the terminated Future Combat Systems manned ground vehicles -- has been postponed. Slated for Dec. 22, the review was set to settle whether the program will begin at milestone A or B.

Program executive office integration spokesman Paul Mehney told Inside the Army today that the review was postponed at the request of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and that the PEO "has not received notification as to a reschedule date."

An OSD spokesman did not respond to ITA's request for comment.

By Sebastian Sprenger
December 23, 2009 at 5:00 AM

Senators apparently are in no rush to consider the nomination of Sharon Burke to be the Pentagon's first-ever director of operational energy plans and programs, a position created by Congress over a year ago.

A Senate Armed Services Committee spokesman told us there is “a long way to go” before members will take action on the Dec. 11 nomination.

The delay is not lawmakers' doing, of course. It took the administration almost a year find someone willing to serve in the job. Burke is considered a capable candidate, according to a story by our colleagues of Defense Environment Alert.

The delay has consequences, of course. Even if Senators were to move quickly on the nomination early next year, Burke would effectively come on board after the deliberations of the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review are over. The drill is perhaps the Pentagon's single most comprehensive evaluation of its plans and programs.

That is not to say the QDR will not feature energy issues. In fact, officials have said energy and related issues will get priority treatment, probably at a macro level. Still, the deliberations will happen without a person at the table whose single focus is making the U.S. military more energy efficient and, thereby, more effective on future battlefields.

Burke, or whoever ultimately gets the job, also will miss much of the the crucial design phase of the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle, whose fuel efficiency is yet to be determined. All officials have said about the requirement is that the GCV should consume less fuel “than current vehicles of the same weight.”

The director of operational energy plans and programs owes Congress a report by Feb. 1, 2010, laying out steps DOD is taking toward improved fuel management at forward-deployed bases, according to the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization legislation, enacted in late October.

Lawmakers apparently had a hunch that the director post may still be vacant when the report is due. In that event, the document must be submitted by the defense secretary, the legislation states.

By Marjorie Censer
December 22, 2009 at 5:00 AM

Oshkosh announced this morning that it has again exceeded the monthly delivery requirement for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle effort by meeting its 1,000-vehicle total on December 18.

December marks the first month in which the company was set to ramp up to 1,000 vehicles, a rate at which it expects to stay through May 2010 to deliver more than 6,600 of the trucks.

According to the company's announcement, "Oshkosh reached the milestone by using production capacity at existing manufacturing facilities in Oshkosh, Wis. and McConnellsburg, Pa."

Following President Obama's announcement that he would send additional troops to Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the military will likely increase its M-ATV requirement to 10,000.

By John Liang
December 21, 2009 at 5:00 AM

The White House Office of Management and Budget today released a report highlighting the government's efforts to reduce the money it spends on contracts, with federal agencies being "on track to save $19 billion through improvements to their contracting and acquisition practices."

The Pentagon was one of the highlighted departments:

The Defense Department hired a contractor to create the next-generation shoulder-fired missile, the Javelin. The missile proved successful but expensive. Its early use resulted in cracked launch tubes that cost approximately $25,000 each to repair. An in-house team of Pentagon engineers took a close look at the problem and recommended specific improvements to “ruggedize” launch tubes to make the tube less susceptible to cracks and abrasion damage in combat environments. The team designed and qualified a protective urethane coating for the Javelin launch tube. The Defense Department’s contracts now include the design change, and, as a result, taxpayers will save an estimated $10 million in hardware costs alone over the five-year life of the contract.

Additionally, the report highlights actions DOD and other government agencies have made to reduce "high-risk contracting," including the Pentagon's use of "peer-review teams":

No federal department contracts as much as the Department of Defense. Secretary Gates is adamant that dollars be spent effectively and efficiently and that they deliver quality services for our troops and our country. As a result, a new system of high-level peer reviews is in place to ensure consistent policy implementation, to improve the quality of contracting processes, and to facilitate cross-sharing of best practices and lessons learned throughout DOD, including for the purpose of mitigating the use of high risk contracts.

For larger contracts, a Deputy Director for Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy leads the peer review team, which is comprised of senior leaders from outside the agency with experience in the type of procurement being reviewed. For smaller contracts, the Services and agencies are responsible for implementing internal peer review programs.

Already, the Defense Department has conducted reviews on 40 different supply and service acquisition programs, with several having undergone as many as three phases of peer review. Contract solicitations have been simplified and improved. In addition, the interchange between the peer review teams and the host teams has enabled invaluable mentoring opportunities to develop future senior leaders. Overall, these efforts are bolstering the quality of contracting processes and the resulting contracts. To date, programs that have undergone all three phases of peer review have not had a sustained protest. In this way, peer reviews are helping the Pentagon to achieve more effective and efficient contracting.

By John Liang
December 18, 2009 at 5:00 AM

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission recently released a report, titled "China's Use of Perception Management and Strategic Deception" and produced on contract by Science Applications International Corp., on how the Chinese government is seeking to manage foreigners' perceptions of the country.

A taste:

Beijing's overt efforts to restore the Middle Kingdom's economic, military, and political prestige present an interesting dilemma for U.S. and Asian policy makers. While China's expanding economic prowess, military might, and exercise of political influence are largely visible to the untrained eye -- is there more to the story? Are members of the US academic, diplomatic, and intelligence communities being targeted by an unspoken agenda that may further Chinese foreign policy and national security objectives, potentially at a significant cost to those outside Beijing?

By Sebastian Sprenger
December 18, 2009 at 5:00 AM

Proponents of the High-Integrity Global Positioning System argue that it would deliver a much-needed defense against GPS signal jamming within a year (see our new story on the program here).

But how pressing is the need for such a device, and how widespread is the jamming tactic among the usual of suspects of rogue nations and potential peer competitors?

According to Jim Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Russians, the Chinese and probably the Iranians have the capability right now.

"Everybody who has a brain is trying to figure out how to do this," he told us.

Commercially available Russian-made technology is available today that could be used to "jam your entire neighborhood," Lewis said.

(It is unclear how useful these devices would be in military operations, however, given that anti-jamming technology exists already to account for attempts to scramble the signal.)

"Jamming of electromagnetic signals is fairly widespread and conducted by a number of nations," one defense official wrote in an e-mail. "It is a widespread enough practice that the U.S. believes we need a robust capability to operate in a jammed environment as soon as possible."

As for HIGPS, officials will conduct initial operational tests with the technology in the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility next year, Alan Shaffer, the principal deputy director of defense research and engineering, told us yesterday during a brief telephone interview.

He declined to narrow down where exactly the tests would take place. (The PACOM area, of course, is enormously large. It includes China.)

But the secrecy surrounding the test location doesn't mean the gear will be used as part of some classified operation, Shaffer maintained. It's just that "we don't typically go ahead and talk about specific things we're doing ahead of time," he said.

By John Liang
December 17, 2009 at 5:00 AM

The Obama administration's nominee for the Pentagon's next chief spokesman thinks keeping in touch with the public won't be his only job. Maintaining close communication with his counterparts in other government agencies will be high on Douglas Wilson's priority list, as well.

Wilson, who would replace Dorrance Smith, states in his written preliminary answers to a Senate Armed Services Committee nomination hearing that:

I believe the next Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs will not only be responsible for effectively communicating Department information and messages to the Congress, to the American public and to international audiences – but he or she will also be responsible for working even more closely with colleagues and counterparts who also have communications responsibilities within the national security framework – diplomatic, intelligence, foreign assistance, public diplomacy, legal and financial, both within the Administration and within Congress. All involved must work together to develop credible and consistent message frameworks as well as both rapid pro-active and rapid-response communications efforts within those frameworks. All of this must be done within a continually-changing technological environment shaped by the many communications and social networking tools available not just to government communicators but to individuals, groups and mass audiences. The challenge here will be to understand that these new tools are themselves not a “one-size-fits-all” panacea, but instead must be tailored for use when and where they can be effective, either singly or in combination with other communications tools.