The Insider

Biofuel Rejection
By John Liang
October 11, 2011 at 3:28 PM

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee late last month rejected a $170 million appropriations reprogramming request the Navy sought to help pay for a joint initiative with the Energy and Agriculture departments that is aimed at jump-starting biofuels manufacturing, Defense Environment Alert reports this week:

The three departments' top officials publicly announced the biofuels initiative Aug. 16, a project meant to help fulfill goals under President Obama's Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future. Under the plan, the three departments pledged to invest up to $510 million in the private sector over the next three years to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels for the military and commercial transportation, according to a press release from the three departments. The effort was lauded as providing energy independence benefits -- considered key to the military and national security -- and as a way to boost economic prospects in rural communities.

"These efforts will accelerate advanced technologies to produce infrastructure-compatible biofuels that will replace imported crude oil with secure, renewable fuels made here in the U.S.," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in announcing the initiative.

Mainly, the objective "is the construction or retrofit of several domestic commercial or pre-commercial scale advanced drop-in biofuel refineries," the press release says. Each department is to provide $170 million under the project.

But now that effort could be slowed if funding is not provided, one source familiar with the funding issue says. And a biofuels industry source says the Navy's funding is key because it is the impetus for manufacturing the fuel.

The project requires all three departments to move together, the source says, noting that the Navy's funding is "the linchpin" because the Navy is the justification for producing drop-in biofuels.

But this source also notes: "It wasn't so much the money itself, it was the coordination of efforts by these three [departments]." The Agriculture Department was to solve feedstock issues, the Department of Energy (DOE) was to solve technology issues, and the Navy was to create the market pull. The coordinated effort was a way to speed the process of getting biorefineries built, the source says. The idea is to demonstrate viability to private and institutional investors providing financing for additional biorefineries, the source says.

To advance the program, the Navy had asked Congress to transfer existing fiscal year 2011 appropriations into the biorefinery initiative. The Navy's justification for the request came under the Defense Production Act, a law passed in 1950 that authorizes the president to offer incentives to developing or expanding a domestic industry if the product is essential to meeting the U.S. national security strategy, according to an Air Force notice seeking information on advanced drop-in biofuels production.

Such a request from the Defense Department requires approval by the Senate and House Armed Services committees and Senate and House Defense Appropriations subcommittees. But in this case, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA) denied the request -- the only one of the three committees to reject it -- sources say.

In an email response dated Sept. 23, a House Armed Services Committee spokesman said the committee was still reviewing the request, and that a decision would be made in the next few days. The spokesman did not reply to subsequent requests for information on the decision. But the source familiar with the funding issue says McKeon rejected the request despite appeals by several House Republicans, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Cochran signed onto a Sept. 7 letter from Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) supporting the funding transfer. Cochran's office did not respond by press time to questions on the issue.

The source says McKeon indicated in a letter that he is not philosophically opposed to biofuels, but wants the president to propose the initiative in the FY13 budget request. That means "we'd lose two years before we could start building biorefineries with the proposed government's 50 percent share," the source says in an e-mail response. Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, Navy assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment, said on a Sept. 21 conference call with reporters that while the $510 million investment is not expected "to create an entire biofuels industry," she expected to see private matching investments of at least 50 percent of that, if not significantly greater. She said the Navy sees itself as both an investor and long-term customer -- which she said will help create the industry.

There is an opportunity to try to include the funding in the FY12 Defense appropriations bill, should that eventually pass Congress, according to sources familiar with the issue. The Defense Department is currently operating under a stop-gap spending measure. . . .

A DOD spokeswoman and Navy spokesman did not respond to questions on the reprogramming request by press time.

Kendall's Guidance
By John Liang
October 11, 2011 at 3:23 PM

With the rise of former Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter to deputy defense secretary, Carter's second-in-command Frank Kendall sent out a memo last week outlining his top six priorities:

My first priority is supporting forces who are engaged in Overseas Contingency Operations. Rapid acquisition to meet urgent needs, timely and reliable logistics support, effective contingency contracting, and more efficient operational energy solutions are some of the areas we will continue to emphasize as we support our Warfighters.

Second is achieving affordable programs. The Department cannot continue the practice of starting programs that prove to be unaffordable. We will work with the requirements and resource communities to ensure the programs we start have firm cost goals in place, appropriate priorities set, and the necessary trade-offs made to keep our programs within affordable limits.

Third is improving efficiency. This is the essence of the Better Buying Power initiative, which we will continue to refine and build upon. We will continue the never-ending quest to control and reduce our costs while acquiring products and services that provide the highest possible value to our Warfighters.

Fourth is strengthening the industrial base. Industry is our partner in the defense acquisition enterprise; without the industrial base, we could not equip and support our Warfighters. A healthy industrial base means a profitable industrial base, but it also means a lean and efficient base that provides good value for the taxpayers' defense investments and that increases in productivity over time. We will execute contracts with industry that include appropriate incentives and drive fair business deals that protect the taxpayers' interest, while providing industry with reasonable profit opportunities and without putting industry at unacceptable risk. We will ensure critical skills and capabilities in the industrial base are identified and preserved.

Fifth is strengthening our acquisition workforce. We have increased the number of people in the acquisition workforce over the last few years. While some growth may still be possible, we will increasingly turn our attention to improving the capability of the workforce that we have. Every supervisor should consider a stronger workforce to be his or her most important legacy.

Sixth and finally, we must protect the future. We are in this for the long haul, and we must be vigilant to avoid a hollow force as budgets decline. This means making sound investments in the next generation of technologies to maintain our military superiority. It means protecting essential capabilities in the industrial base such as design teams that would take a generation or more to replace. It means retaining a contingency contracting capability that can be expanded when needed. It means developing and nurturing small businesses, maintaining our installations, and ensuring the safety and security of our nuclear deterrent. Most of all, it means maintaining the very best military in the world. We will approach all of the priorities I have articulated with the need to protect the future in mind.

Defense Industry Benchmarking
By John Liang
October 7, 2011 at 3:36 PM

An Arizona-based research firm today released an aerospace and defense industry "benchmarking metric" report for 2011.

The report by CAPS Research "contains key supply management performance measures on topics including organizational structure, financial information, and supplier relationships," according to a statement issued this morning. Further:

New this year is a matrix that looks at what is included in each of the participating Aerospace and Defense companies' supply management operating expense as well as a deeper look at spend for direct and indirect goods.  It is interesting to note that less than half of the participants (44%) reported they do not include in their supply management operating expense the costs related to IT infrastructure and desktop support and/or business systems.

This report establishes a composite standard or benchmarking comparison of supply management peer performance in the industry.  To conduct this and all industry benchmarking studies, CAPS Research forms an Industry Advisory Committee of industry executives to determine the specific data to be collected. Three criteria are used: usefulness of the resultant benchmark, availability of needed data within the supply management organization, and comparability of data among companies.

Click here (registration required) to view the report.

The Pentagon itself has been conducting its own industrial base studies for some time now. As InsideDefense.com reports this week:

Early results of a not-yet-complete Pentagon assessment of the defense industrial base reveal "some fragility" among lower-tier companies that -- in select cases -- provide components critical to major weapons, a finding that will influence the Defense Department's investment blueprint, according to a senior DOD official.

Brett Lambert, deputy assistant secretary of defense for manufacturing and industrial base policy, said a review directed in March by Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn is prompting the Pentagon to "keep a mindful watch" on companies in the lower tiers of the industrial base to ensure the supply of parts and modules necessary to produce new combat systems.

"Early indications are that the defense industrial base is more global, more commercial and more financially complex" than previously understood, Lambert told InsideDefense.com in an Oct. 4 interview. He said information gleaned to date through the new review -- the "Sector-by-Sector, Tier-by-Tier Assessment of the Defense Industrial Base" -- suggests there is no "single" defense industrial base and that there is "some fragility in some sub-tiers."

The effort, dubbed S2T2, is intended to eventually yield a new map of the defense industrial base derived from a more comprehensive and "fact-based" approach than prior Pentagon assessments of the private sector enterprise that designs and builds the U.S. military's weapon inventory, he said.

None of the findings of the new review are reflected in the 2011 Annual Industrial Capabilities Report To Congress, a statutorily mandated report the Defense Department delivered to lawmakers on Monday, Lambert said. That report largely restates findings on key sectors of the defense industrial base published in the 2010 report.

Lambert said next year's annual report to Congress, however, will reflect results of the S2T2 effort. Still, he said, the Pentagon has no plans to produce a separate, publicly released report on the findings of the S2T2 assessment, whose insights are ultimately intended to guide investment decisions.

Defense Business Roundtable
By John Liang
October 6, 2011 at 6:46 PM

Reps. Bill Shuster (R-PA), Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Bobby Schilling (R-IL) plan to hold a "Defense Business Roundtable" in Moline, IL, tomorrow morning, according to a statement from Schilling's office:

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) asked Rep. Shuster and Rep. Larsen to meet with representatives of the defense industry as part of the House Armed Services Committee's oversight responsibilities. The Committee believes it is essential to solicit feedback from industry, especially in light of the current fiscal environment. The roundtable will address regulatory issues faced by the contracting community; what incentives could draw more business into the DoD contracting community; and what structural challenges currently present an obstacle to business growth and innovation.

The Pentagon's industrial policy office this week released its annual industrial capabilities report to Congress. It contains summaries of a host of studies on the industrial base the Defense Department conducted during 2011. Among them:

Pentagon Market For Missiles May Decline, New Report Warns

Contractors who supply missiles and related components to the Defense Department may find themselves with less government business in the future, a just-released report to Congress warns.

Report: DOD Needs To Keep An Eye On 'RadHard' Industrial Base

The Defense Department needs to keep an eye on the radiation-hardened electronics industrial base, according to a just-released Pentagon report to Congress.

DOD Identifies Investment Areas For Nanotechnology Industrial Base

The Defense Department has identified three key investment areas in the nanomanufacturing industrial base, according to the new annual report released this week by the Pentagon's industrial policy shop.

Aside from the summaries, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy told InsideDefense.com in an interview this week that that report largely restates findings on key sectors of the defense industrial base published in the 2010 version. Further, Lambert talked about a separate, ongoing industrial base assessment that was not addressed in the annual report:

Early results of a not-yet-complete Pentagon assessment of the defense industrial base reveal "some fragility" among lower-tier companies that -- in select cases -- provide components critical to major weapons, a finding that will influence the Defense Department's investment blueprint, according to a senior DOD official.

Brett Lambert, deputy assistant secretary of defense for manufacturing and industrial base policy, said a review directed in March by Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn is prompting the Pentagon to "keep a mindful watch" on companies in the lower tiers of the industrial base to ensure the supply of parts and modules necessary to produce new combat systems.

"Early indications are that the defense industrial base is more global, more commercial and more financially complex" than previously understood, Lambert told InsideDefense.com in an Oct. 4 interview. He said information gleaned to date through the new review -- the "Sector-by-Sector, Tier-by-Tier Assessment of the Defense Industrial Base" -- suggests there is no "single" defense industrial base and that there is "some fragility in some sub-tiers."

The effort, dubbed S2T2, is intended to eventually yield a new map of the defense industrial base derived from a more comprehensive and "fact-based" approach than prior Pentagon assessments of the private sector enterprise that designs and builds the U.S. military's weapon inventory, he said.

Behind Closed Doors
By John Liang
October 6, 2011 at 6:01 PM

The Defense Science Board plans to meet in closed session later this month, according to a notice published this morning in the Federal Register.

The DSB almost always meets in closed session. In this case, the notice provides few details on what will be discussed during the Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 meetings at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD:

At this meeting, the Board will discuss interim finding and recommendations resulting from ongoing Task Force activities. The Board will also discuss plans for future consideration of scientific and technical aspects of specific strategies, tactics, and policies as they may affect the U.S. national defense posture and homeland security.

While no specific studies are mentioned, here are a couple possibilities, culled from InsideDefense.com's recent coverage:

Lynn Directs Defense Science Board To Establish Cloud Task Force

Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn has directed the Defense Science Board to establish a Defense Science Board task force examining cybersecurity and reliability in the digital cloud.

The directive in a May 19 memo comes after the Obama administration shifted to a "cloud first" policy as a major tenet in its reform of IT management. Cloud computing is an information technology architecture that allows multiple users in different locations to access information, resources and data through the Internet and is emerging in both the private IT and federal cybersecurity sectors.

The task force, Lynn writes, should focus on identifying research opportunities and should "estimate the level of investment to achieve results consistent with DOD needs."

"Cloud advocates assert that infrastructure incorporating cloud-based technologies and virtualization can deliver both higher reliability and more assured cybersecurity," the memo states.

-- DOCUMENT: DSB Terms Of Reference Memo On 'Resilient Military Systems'

Pentagon Panel Conducting Study On Predicting Violent Behavior

Defense Department advisers are conducting a new review of warning signs to help identify a small fraction of DOD personnel who might commit workplace violence, terrorism, suicide or cybersecurity breaches.

In a May 21 memo to the Defense Science Board, Pentagon acquisition executive Ashton Carter directs the federal advisory board to examine a number of key issues and brief the study's findings and recommendations to DOD homeland defense chief Paul Stockton by June 30.

The charter is nearly identical to one issued last October by Frank Kendall, the department's No. 2 acquisition official, except the new version states former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency chief Larry Lynn and former DOD General Counsel Judith Miller will chair the review.

The initial charter said Lynn and Ann Skalka of the Fox Chase Institute for Cancer Research would lead the effort. But by February, the board no longer listed Skalka as a co-chair and the task force was still in formation. In an internal bulletin issued last month, DSB chairman and former DOD acquisition chief Paul Kaminski noted the task force "recently convened" with Lynn and Miller in charge.

-- DOCUMENT: DSB Terms Of Reference Memo On 'Predicting Violent Behavior'

'Strong Defense, Strong America'
By John Liang
October 5, 2011 at 8:31 PM

House Armed Services readiness subcommittee Chairman Randy Forbes (R-VA) has begun a campaign to ensure the Pentagon does not suffer any further budget cuts. On a website he created named "Strong Defense, Strong America," he writes:

Some argue that another $600 billion of defense cuts will not hurt America. We can do more with less, they say. Or, we can just do less. They are wrong.

Even before Congress agreed to slash roughly $400 billion in defense spending, our military commanders described our forces as being on the "ragged edge." In unambiguous terms, our military leaders have warned that further cuts to an already tattered force would demand not only fundamental restructuring of our armed services but a vast re-ordering of what it is our nation expects from our military. The country's next chief military officer has called these defense cuts "extraordinarily difficult and very high risk."

What is at risk is a weakening of the pillars of America: trade, jobs, diplomacy, global trust, innovation, and the American way of life. Defense cuts matter. Because a strong defense means a strong America.

Accordingly, the lawmaker has introduced a resolution "expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that further reductions to core national security funding will cause significant harm to United States interests."

DAU Courses Hacked
By Thomas Duffy
October 5, 2011 at 6:23 PM

The president of the Defense Acquisition University sent out a memo Monday explaining why some of the university's online courses have been inaccessible for the past few months. The problem is DAU was hacked over the summer and has been slowly restoring access to its courses ever since.

In her memo, Katharina McFarland laid out the problem:

A well-known group of computer hackers gained access to a vendor's system and stole both company information and the source code of the learning management system that DAU uses. While our system itself was not hacked, having source code available publicly made our system potentially vulnerable. We and the United States Cyber Command evaluated the risk level to our system based on the incident that occurred on the vendor's network and made a decision to secure our system.

The intrusion occurred on July 21, 2011, we suspended access to the DAU Virtual campus the next day and have been restoring service in a secure environment incrementally since then. No information was lost or compromised. Student records and progress information are intact, we are working with the vendor to mitigate future risk by implementing new source code, and we are taking steps to restore full access and functionality.

Many of the people working for the government's civilian agencies and defense contractors take online DAU courses. Mcfarland explained that on Set. 19, the university launched a Defense Department Common Access Card version of DAU's Virtual campus so the defense acquisition workforce could once again enroll in and complete courses.

DAU is working to strengthen username/password authentication encryption and policies so non-CAC holders could get back in th system. The target date to complete that is Oct. 31, McFarland wrote.

Lebanon Aid
By John Liang
October 4, 2011 at 9:27 PM

The State Department has approved nearly $75 million in foreign military financing to Lebanon, according to a notice published in this morning's Federal Register by Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Thomas Nides:

Determination Pursuant to Section 2121(h) of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, Relating to Foreign Military Financing for Lebanon

Pursuant to Section 2121(h) of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (Div. B, Pub. L. 112-10) (CR), I hereby determine that provision of $74,850,000 in Foreign Military Financing funds appropriated by the CR for assistance for Lebanon is in the national security interest of the United States.

This determination shall be published in the Federal Register and copies shall be provided to the Congress together with the accompanying Memorandum of Justification.

In related news, InsideDefense.com reported yesterday that the Defense Department had forfeited $84 million in funds authorized in fiscal year 2011 to train and equip foreign forces rather than proceed with assisting select Middle Eastern nations affected by the wave of revolutions across the Arab-speaking world. Moreover:

The decision caps Pentagon spending well below $350 million, the sum Congress authorized in FY-11 for the Defense Department, in coordination with the State Department, to use for two purposes: to enhance partner nations' counterterrorism and stability operations and to bolster foreign maritime security forces for counterterrorism.

"The delta, which is approximately $84 million, can be attributed to the uncertainty created by the Arab Spring this past year," Lt. Col. James Gregory, a Pentagon spokesman, told InsideDefense.com. "Although we cannot provide details on any specific countries to which the funds were originally intended because they have not gone forward to Congress for review, we can say that we continue to monitor the situation throughout the entire region carefully."

The unused FY-11 funds originally authorized for these so-called "Section 1206" projects were reprogrammed to finance other pressing DOD needs, Gregory said.

Yemen, Bahrain and Lebanon, according to a March 3 report by the Congressional Research Service on Section 1206 programs, have been among the largest beneficiaries of Section 1206 grants in prior years. The Yemeni and Bahraini governments have been rocked by uprisings that swept across the region earlier this year, upending the ruling order in Tunisia and Egypt.

Yemen, according to the congressional report, has received $252.5 million in 1206 assistance since 2006; Lebanon has received $128.5 million and Bahrain $50.3 million.

On Board
By Christopher J. Castelli
October 4, 2011 at 5:46 PM

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today announced some familiar names will be joining the Defense Policy Board as new members: Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state; Jamie Gorelick, former deputy attorney general; Jane Harman, former congresswoman (D-CA); retired Gen. James Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and retired Adm. Gary Roughead, former chief of naval operations.

"These members join the following returning members: John Hamre, chairman; Harold Brown; J.D. Crouch; Richard Danzig; Rudy deLeon, Chuck Hagel; Retired Gen. Jack Keane; Henry Kissinger; Frank Miller; John Nagl; Sam Nunn; Joseph Nye; William Perry; James Schlesinger; Brent Scowcroft; Sarah Sewall; and Retired Gen. Larry Welch," according to the Pentagon's statement.

The Defense Policy Board provides the secretary, deputy secretary and under secretary for policy with advice and opinion on matters of defense policy.

Carter Bids Farewell
By Jason Sherman
October 4, 2011 at 3:42 PM

Ashton Carter, the next deputy defense secretary, last week said arrivederci to the Pentagon's acquisition workforce, which he has led since April 2009.

In a memo summarizing efforts he sees as key accomplishments and initiatives to be continued, Carter writes "We have plowed entirely new ground in response to technological change, energy challenges, and new threats. And we have moved smartly into areas where AT&L needed capabilities but had none."

Strategic Management Plan
By John Liang
October 3, 2011 at 5:44 PM

The Defense Department recently released an updated version of its Strategic Management Plan, which "establishes specific business goals that directly support the Strategic Goals of the [Quadrennial Defense Review], as well as further articulates changes needed in the department's business domain, while ensuring unity of effort across the enterprise."

The plan covers fiscal years 2012 through 2013, and has seven "overarching business goals":

1. Strengthen and right-size the DoD total workforce

2. Strengthen DoD financial management

3. Build agile and secure information technology capabilities

4. Increase the buying power of the DoD

5. Increase operational and installation energy efficiency

6. Re-engineer/use end-to-end business processes

7. Create agile business operations that support contingency missions

Read the plan.

DBB Meeting
By John Liang
September 30, 2011 at 3:41 PM

The Defense Business Board plans to hold a public meeting on Oct. 20 to discuss draft findings and recommendations from a pair of task groups, according to a Federal Register notice published this morning:

At this meeting, the Board will deliberate draft findings and recommendations from the "Information Technology Modernization" Task Group. The Board will also receive an update from the "Re-engineering the Requirements Process" Task Group. The mission of the Board is to advise the Secretary of Defense on effective strategies for implementation of best business practices of interest to the Department of Defense.

According to the meeting agenda:

Public Session

8:30 a.m.-9:15 a.m. Deliberation of Task Group Draft Recommendations -- Information Technology Modernization.

9:15 a.m.-9:30 a.m. Task Group Update -- Re-engineering the Requirements Process.

As Inside the Pentagon reported in June:

Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn has launched a sweeping review to help boost the efficiency and security of the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar information technology modernization efforts.

As the Defense Department faces the prospect of major budget cuts and struggles to execute plans to shutter its networking directorate in the name of efficiency, Lynn is turning to the Defense Business Board for independent advice on the $38 billion IT budget that supports DOD activities worldwide.

In a May 20 memo to the board, Lynn lays out the "numerous operating challenges" facing the department's "highly complex" IT infrastructure and environment.

"DOD operates about 10,000 operational systems running on 15,000 networks using 67,246 servers and 772 data centers spanning 146 countries and 6,000 locations," Lynn writes.

The complexity has created cyber vulnerabilities, decentralized planning and standards, impediments to joint and allied operations, large cumulative costs and an inability to capitalize on rapidly evolving technology, the memo states.

"For these reasons, it is imperative that the department identify and pursue every opportunity to economize and increase the efficiency of its IT enterprise," Lynn writes.

The memo directs the board to determine how DOD can boost the efficiency of and modernize the department's IT enterprise by consolidating data centers.

The memo also calls for the study to identify opportunities for the "efficient, effective and secure implementation of cloud computing" to support DOD's business operations and warfighting. Cloud computing -- which, like data-center consolidation, has become a priority for the Obama administration -- is a relatively new IT approach that provides users access to data and software via a network instead of relying on applications on local computers. The board's review must address security concerns associated with both data-center consolidation and cloud computing, Lynn writes.

Budget Talks
By Christopher J. Castelli
September 29, 2011 at 6:33 PM

This morning at the Pentagon, combatant commanders received "a series of briefings on the budget landscape" and discussed a "broad" range of issues in meetings scheduled to give COCOMs an opportunity to provide input concerning long-term investment plans and potential ways to glean savings, Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters this afternoon.

The discussions are continuing, he noted. Officials have not yet determined the final figure for the amount of defense cuts planned over the next decade, he said.

We broke the news of the meeting last week:

'Alt POMs' To Be Briefed To COCOMs As OSD Begins FY-13 Program, Budget Review

The military services next week are scheduled to begin briefing combatant commanders on their revised five-year spending plans as the Office of the Secretary of Defense begins its fiscal year 2013 budget review, a process expected to be influenced by new mandatory spending caps as well as a revision in strategy dubbed "QDR Minus."

Earlier this month, the services submitted “alternative” program objective memoranda -- dubbed "alt POMs" -- that reflect the August budget accord between the White House and Congress, a deal that requires cuts of more than $450 billion to the Pentagon's 10-year spending plan. The alternative POMs have been briefed to Pentagon leaders, including Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, according to DOD sources.

Details behind the FY-13 to FY-17 spending plans, including any new cuts to programs and force structure, are due to be briefed beginning next week to regional and functional combatant commanders, who play an indirect role in shaping the military department's budget plans.

Sources familiar with the services' plans say the alternative POMs were balanced by tapping manpower accounts through the use of civilian hiring freezes and end strength cuts, as well as via cuts to modernization accounts.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Secretary of Defense has begin in earnest its review of the alt POMs, sources said. Beginning in early October, OSD is expected to begin directing changes to the service POMs in line with the results of the comprehensive defense review launched this spring, which is intended to provide a strategic framework for budget cuts. Pentagon sources say the new framework retains fundamental elements of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review.

"It's the QDR strategy, with some tweaks," said one source familiar with the findings. "I don't think they're making any major shifts of strategy." . . .

Passing The Torch
By John Liang
September 28, 2011 at 7:32 PM

Outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen will transfer his command to Army Gen. Martin Dempsey this Friday, according to a Pentagon announcement.

The event will take place at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time at Ft. Myer, VA. Dempsey will become the 18th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

AFRICOM Meetup
By John Liang
September 28, 2011 at 3:31 PM

U.S. Africa Command will convene its annual "Joint Europe Africa Deployment and Distribution Conference" (JEADDC) in Germany this December, according to a notice posted on this morning's Federal Register.

The Dec. 5-8 JEADDC will feature "a keynote address, panel discussions, and working groups involving agency personnel, members of the trade community, academia, and other government agencies," the notice reads, adding: "Conference participants will focus on transportation and logistics strategy, capabilities, initiatives, issues, and concerns in Africa and Europe.

Retired Lt. Gen. Claude "Chris" Christianson will be the keynote speaker, according to the notice. The conference's agenda is as follows:

Monday, December 5, 2011 ('icebreaker' social—6 p.m.-9 p.m.).

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 (opening remarks, keynote address, and panel discussions—8:15 a.m.-5 p.m.).

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 (working groups—8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.).

Thursday, December 8, 2011 (working groups working groups and out brief —8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.).

Inside the Pentagon reported earlier this month that AFRICOM is working to "rigorously prioritize" its missions and find ways to reduce redundancy in the face of dwindling defense spending, according to the general in charge:

AFRICOM is looking to determine where it can achieve the greatest effect as the Pentagon is forced to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years, Gen. Carter Ham told reporters Wednesday [Sept. 14] at a breakfast in Washington. Regionally, that focus will be directed to East Africa, which is home to piracy, famine and violent extremists, Ham said.

"There's this seam, this boundary between us and Central Command, a growing connection between al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Shabaab and al Qaeda in East Africa," Ham said.

This region is also home to the Lord's Resistance Army, as well as the new nation of South Sudan. Ham said. "East Africa's kind of got the largest conglomeration of security issues," Ham said.

In addition, AFRICOM is looking to find opportunities to "do more multinationally, more regionally and less bilaterally," Ham said.

The Defense Department is facing nearly $350 billion in budget cuts. That amount could be increased depending on the actions of a supercommittee of 12 lawmakers tasked with proposing nearly $1.5 trillion in cuts across the federal government by Thanksgiving.

AFRICOM takes up a relatively tiny piece of DOD's budget, the general noted. "From a budget standpoint, we're pretty small potatoes," Ham said.

AFRICOM, which is located in Stuttgart-Moehringen, Germany, had nearly 2,100 personnel as of April, according to the command's website. DOD's fiscal year 2012 budget request seeks just under $290 million for the command, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report.