The Insider

An Army spokeswoman told InsideDefense.com today that she doesn't believe the service's stalled Tactical Wheeled Vehicle strategy will be published until the end of the month.

“I don't think the strategy is solid but we have been working through the staffing process of the documents that support the strategy rollout (press release, talking points, etc.),” according to an e-mail from Army spokeswoman Alayne Conway. “I have asked the question about timing but still awaiting the answer. Realistically, I don't think we will see it until the last week of Nov[ember].”

As we've reported, the Army G-8 prepared the strategy for release at the end of October, but put its publication on hold after senior leaders protested.

We've got what was completed right here.

"We showed it to senior leaders. We thought we did OK. And I don't think they liked the way we presented it,”Army chief programmer Lt. Gen. Robert Lennox told reporters Oct. 26. “I don't think they liked the way we were telling the story. We're going to go back and redo it.”

The TWV strategy is expected to address the Army's future plans for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle as well as a potential humvee recapitalization program.

Industry is also awaiting the release of the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle request for proposals, which was initially scheduled for publication at the end of last month. “The Army intends to release a revised RFP for a new Ground Combat Vehicle very soon,” Conway wrote. “Though the revised RFP is still in the final stages of [Defense Department] approval, the Army is confident that this detailed process will result in a successful partnership with industry based on an affordable and achievable acquisition program.”

Meanwhile, the co-chairs of the Obama administration's special deficit reduction commission have released a draft proposal calling for the termination of both the JLTV and GCV.

What to do about North Korea will likely be one of the discussion items while President Obama attends this week's G-20 summit in Seoul.

With that in mind, the Council on Foreign Relations today released a "contingency planning memorandum" titled "Military Escalation in Korea," in which the council's Center for Preventive Action (CPA) Director Paul Stares "warns that a new crisis on the Korean peninsula is a serious risk and urges the United States to work closely with Seoul to monitor warning indicators in the North," according to a council statement. Specifically:

Further provocations by North Korea as well as other military interactions on or around the Korean peninsula carry the danger of unintended escalation, writes Stares. Moreover, changes underway in North Korea could precipitate new tensions and herald a prolonged period of instability that raises the possibility of military intervention by outside powers.

Stares analyzes potentially dangerous situations that could erupt due to the atmosphere of recrimination and mistrust that exists between North and South Korea; the possibility of provocative, domestically driven, North Korean behavior; and the potential for a troubled succession process in Pyongyang. He concludes that the United States has a strong and abiding interest in taking steps to prevent another Korean war and provides the following recommendations to reduce the risk of unwanted military escalation in the region.

-The United States and South Korea should continue to maintain their heightened vigilance through enhancements to their surveillance and intelligence-gathering capabilities. Particular attention should be paid to likely warning indicators, such as succession instability, notable anniversaries and dates, and missile and nuclear tests.

-The United States should continue to reassure South Korea of its alliance commitments and also help it to fix certain defensive weaknesses identified in the wake of the investigation on the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan on March 26, 2010, which claimed the lives of forty-six sailors.

-A concerted diplomatic effort should be made to reduce tensions on the peninsula and to contain North Korea’s pursuit of additional nuclear weapons and long-range missile capabilities. Encouraging Beijing to restrain Pyongyang’s provocative behavior in the interests of regional stability must continue.

Major defense acquisition efforts like the now-defunct Army Future Combat Systems project and the Coast Guard's Deepwater program -- both of which were run by a single contractor performing the role of a lead systems integrator -- have been raked over the coals by lawmakers for incurring delays and cost overruns. With those lessons in mind, a recent Congressional Research Service report outlines potential options for how LSIs could be used in the future:

• Reduce the possible need for LSIs by pursuing separate procurement programs rather than SOS programs;

• Require that certain conditions be met before a private-sector LSI can be used on an acquisition program (analogous to conditions set for use of the multi-year procurement program);

• Require that LSI arrangements include features to ensure transparency, prevent conflicts of interest, prohibit self-certification, require independent assessments, and facilitate meaningful periodic competitions of the LSI role;

• Institute additional or stricter reporting requirements for programs being executed by LSIs;

• Require DOD and other federal agencies to share lessons learned regarding programs executed with private-sector LSIs;

• Prohibit the use of private-sector LSI’s in future acquisition programs;

• Reduce the possible need for private-sector LSIs by building back up the defense civilian and military acquisition workforces, and have DOD assume the role of the LSI, and require that DOD manage all SOS programs; and

• Implement the recommendations of the recent Gansler Commission on improving the acquisition workforce.

Richard Kidd has become the Army's top official solely devoted to energy issues -- moving over from a key energy management job in the Energy Department at a time when service leaders are emphasizing a focus on energy efficiencies and other energy initiatives, Defense Environment Alert reports this morning:

Speaking during an Oct. 27 press conference just two days after assuming his new position as the Army's deputy assistant secretary for energy and partnerships, Kidd said the Army has an opportunity to lead on energy issues. No other federal agency can drive the agenda like the Army, he said, referring to the large number of buildings the Army owns. With the Army owning half the buildings in the Defense Department, it is highly unlikely DOD will meet its energy goals without the Army on-board with those goals, he said at a press conference at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington, DC. Top Army officials including Army Under Secretary Joseph Westphal and Vice Chief of Staff Peter Chiarelli also spoke at the AUSA conference about energy security and energy goals of the service.

"With more buildings and more fuel burned in ground vehicles than any other federal entity, the Army has a tremendous opportunity to better use energy and expand operational flexibility through enhanced energy efficiency," Kidd said in an Oct. 27 press release on his appointment.

Kidd, who moved to the Army from his position as program manager of DOE's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), is responsible for designing and implementing the Army's strategic and operational energy policy. Kidd reports to Army Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy & Environment Katherine Hammack, who has a strong background in energy and green buildings. Hammack was confirmed in her position in August. FEMP is responsible for facilitating cost-effective energy management in the federal government and investment practices to further energy security and environmental stewardship, according to a DOE website.

Hammack praised Kidd's appointment, saying in the press release that with Kidd's experience, "the Army will continue laying the groundwork and advance energy security and sustainability efforts in a meaningful and measurable way. With energy and renewables at the forefront of national policy, the time is right to have someone with his expertise."

During the press conference, Kidd also reiterated remarks by Westphal about the need for collaboration among federal agencies and within departments. Kidd stressed the need to ensure the many different efforts on energy in the Army, services and at DOE are aligned and not redundant or wasteful.

His appointment comes as DOD and the services are emphasizing energy issues, pushing more alternative and renewable energy sources and greater energy efficiencies, framing them as a national security matter.

InsideDefense.com reported late last month that the Army had identified six critical areas in which it hopes to develop capabilities to support energy management required for combat operations, with service officials preparing to launch an Army-wide effort to refine its needs and reshape its investment plans to develop and acquire technologies designed to improve its efficiency in future missions:

The Army Capabilities Integration Center, part of the service's Training and Doctrine Command, has completed a draft of an initial capabilities document that fleshes out energy attributes and metrics, a first step toward realigning the service's materiel development efforts, science and technology investments and training in a bid to influence the Army's fiscal years 2014 to 2019 spending plan.

"Next, we plan to lay out an operational energy campaign plan," Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, head of the ARCIC, said Oct. 27 during a brief interview. The plan is being designed to both reassess current Army energy initiatives in light of the new requirements document as well as possibly launch new programs.

By harnessing new tools with potential to give commanders the ability to monitor energy status across the force, the Army hopes to convert its enormous need for fuel, water and electricity from a liability to an operational advantage, according to Vane. Through new methods of accounting for energy, the service aims to break with a long-standing practice of viewing it as an unconstrained resource that receives little attention in operational planning and adopt a holistic view of its requirements and utilization, Vane added.

To that end, the Army is about to circulate its draft operational energy initial capabilities document for comment to key leaders in the Pentagon and then "release it to the world," said Col. Paul Roege, special assistant to Vane for energy issues.

A recent maritime laser test focused on surface targets was halted mid-test because "an internal component required replacement," Rear Adm. Nevin P. Carr Jr., the chief of naval research, said today.

Speaking with reporters at the Office of Naval Research Naval S&T Partnership Conference in Crystal City, VA, Carr said the maritime laser test took place within "the last couple of weeks" but would not comment on where it took place or what -- if any -- contractors were involved.

"We've had a couple different solid-state laser tests over the last few months," said Carr. "One was focused on some very small [unmanned aerial vehicle]s, and was able to shoot some of those down."

Describing the recent laser test, Carr said: "We put a system on board the self-defense test ship and we're learning things about propagation of laser energy low over the water, which is the most challenging environment for it."

The testing was directed against low-level surface threats -- what Carr called high-speed swarm threats. "So we've got experiments that learned up high and down low, and the down-low part's hard because it's where all the humidity is in particular."

The "down-low" test was called off, Carr said, but that doesn't mean it failed. "It was progressing through the test and we were collecting data and an internal component required replacement. It's something that because this is so new, a decision was made to just stop, take it back, make sure it's prepared right. We're not in a hurry. Everything we do with these systems is new and we're learning more and more things about them. So we get some great data, we went partway down the list of things we want to do and we'll just pick it up again when we get that internal component."

And when will the next test take place? "I'd rather not talk about the specifics," Carr said.

Last month, InsideDefense.com reported that Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter had established new rules for developing and procuring space systems, issuing guidance that effectively concludes work started by his predecessor to pull purchases of unclassified military satellites -- which total approximately $11 billion annually -- under the umbrella of regulations that guide the acquisition of other major weapon systems.

We now have the memo the story was based on. Click here to view it.

From the story:

In an Oct. 18 memo, Carter announced new “space system acquisition procedures,” which include a new requirement that all satellite programs undergo a high-level review during the technology development phase to permit Defense Department decision makers an early opportunity to assess technical maturity and program progress.

That requirement is designed in part to encourage the use of mature technologies in order for programs to hew closely to original cost and schedule estimates, a development that would stand in contrast to DOD's difficulty over the years in delivering satellites on time and on cost.

“So this is a fundamental culture shift,” said Josh Hartman, head of the Center for Strategic Space Studies. Hartman said the new policy aims to discourage the previously common practice in space system acquisition of committing resources and time to mature technologies during system development, efforts more appropriate to focus in military laboratories.

The two-page memo and three-page attachment direct changes to acquisition policy of space systems that are effective immediately and by April will be incorporated into DOD Instruction 5000.02, the Pentagon's definitive set of rules for developing and buying weapon systems.

Carter's directive-type memorandum is the culmination of work begun two years ago when then-Pentagon acquisition executive John Young directed an internal DOD analysis team to examine both the organization and process for buying military satellites, which at that point were managed and acquired though a system that operated in parallel to other major DOD equipment purchases.

Executive departments and agencies have been using ad hoc, agency-specific policies, procedures and markings to safeguard and control so-called "controlled unclassified" information, but the White House is moving to change that.

"This inefficient, confusing patchwork has resulted in inconsistent marking and safeguarding of documents, led to unclear or unnecessarily restrictive dissemination policies, and created impediments to authorized information sharing. The fact that these agency-specific policies are often hidden from public view has only aggravated these issues," President Obama writes in a new executive order that establishes a program for managing "controlled unclassified information."