Defense

  • Several European Union foreign ministers have accused Russia of invading eastern Ukraine and said Moscow should be punished with more sanctions. The meeting of the 28-nation bloc's top diplomats in Milan came one day after NATO said Moscow has slipped at least 1,000 Russian soldiers and much heavy weaponry into Ukraine.

    September 01, 2014
  • In this week's edition of Inside the DoD Reporter's Notebook, Jared Serbu examines news and buzz in the Defense community that you might have missed including: DoD-VA medical record sharing still too slow; VA kicks off new drive to hire docs; DISA plans follow-on to Encore II contract

    August 29, 2014
  • Conversation with Authors: Professor Harry Lambright on Leaders and Leadership - Lessons from Robert Gates, Francis Collins, and NASA Administrators

    August 29, 2014
  • The Pentagon may need to ask Congress for more money if the Obama administration steps up attacks against ISIL. DoD has not yet stated publicly how much it has spent so far in the fight against ISIL. The U.S. operation in Iraq so far has included relief drops of 636 bundles of food, water and medical supplies, at least 100 air strikes and about 60 reconnaissance aircraft missions a day.

    August 29, 2014
  • Maj. Gen. Michael T. Harrison drops in rank from two-star to one-star for failing to investigate sexual assault accusations.

    August 29, 2014
  • Air Force's new community partnership program looks to cut the costs of running bases by sharing operating and maintenance costs with the local communities in their neighborhoods.

    August 29, 2014
  • ASBCA sounds like the people telling you to be nice to dogs. But the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals is all about military contracting, and what happens when it goes wrong. The Board has adopted some new rules to help streamline things and iron out ambiguities. In this week's legal loop, Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with the details.

    August 28, 2014
  • A new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board says that it's time for Congress to simplify the overly complex veterans preference laws to make sure they're doing what Congress put them in place to do.

    August 28, 2014
  • One of the longest-running conflicts the Pentagon deals with is the fight over employee performance management. The National Security Personnel System only lasted a couple of years before Congress voted it out of existence. Now the Defense Department is taking another shot at employee performance management. Pete Randazzo is Local 1690 Union President for the National Federation of Federal Employees. Randazzo was co-lead for a Performance Management Design Team that offered recommendations to the Pentagon. He explained his team's work on In Depth with Francis Rose.

    August 28, 2014
  • Reserve officers face a continuing dilemma. They often want to stay current enough to return to active duty if needed. Yet, they also need to pursue their other professional lives. Now the Air Force is adopting a program pioneered by the Navy and Marine Corps to let them do just that. Col. Rob Romer, chief of the military force policy division, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the new program.

    August 28, 2014
  • A two-star Army general blamed for failing to properly investigate sexual assault and other allegations against a colonel on his staff will be retired with one star the Army announced Wednesday. The Associated Press's Robert Burns writes, "The decision by Army Secretary John M. McHugh comes more than a year after Maj. Gen. Michael T. Harrison was suspended from his duties as commander of U.S. Army forces in Japan. His case has been cited as evidence of why sex-crime victims say they don't trust the military to protect them, despite efforts by senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, to make commanders accountable."

    August 28, 2014
  • The Defense Department has a plan to get its supply chain management issues off of the Government Accountability Office's high risk list, but progress has been very slow. The Army has a plan to speed things up.

    August 28, 2014
  • Almost 125,000 veterans die every year. The Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for laying them to rest with honor, and for that service the VA has the highest customer satisfaction rating of any organization -- public or private -- in the country. Ronald Walters is acting undersecretary for memorial affairs at the Veterans Affairs Department. He's a Service to America medal finalist in the Management Excellence category. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained why the VA is so successful in this arena. View a gallery of all the Sammies finalists.

    August 27, 2014
  • Lawmaker asks National Security Director James Clapper to take action against the tax- delinquents and inform them that their potentially harmful financial behaviors put the nation's security at risk.

    August 27, 2014