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On Air: Federal News Network
Defense
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Nearly 800 current and former Veterans Affairs employees and patients have submitted complaints about the department to a watchdog group. The Project on Government Oversight set up a special website to collect their complaints. It says the number of submissions is a record. Lydia Dennett is an investigator for the Project On Government Oversight. She joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss what POGO found.
July 23, 2014 -
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Suicides among active-duty military rose this year compared with the same period last year, but Pentagon officials indicate more service members are seeking help through hotlines and other aid programs. Pentagon documents obtained by The Associated Press show there were 161 confirmed or suspected suicides as of July 14, compared with 154 during the same time frame in 2013. The increase was among the Air Force and Navy, while soldiers and Marine suicides went down.
July 23, 2014 -
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The Defense and Homeland Security departments are pushing project managers to test technology or weapons systems earlier in the acquisition lifecycle to understand and solve potential roadblocks sooner. DoD submitted recommendations to Senate leaders for how to better integrate testing and evaluation into the acquisition lifecycle.
July 23, 2014 -
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Testing and evaluating federal programs might be an old idea, but it's getting a new lease on life. Agencies are using testing and evaluation earlier in the process, and that's gaining support as a potential fix for longstanding problems. For instance, the Defense and Homeland Security departments are pushing project managers to test weapons and other new technology early in the acquisition lifecycle. Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss this emerging trend. Read Jason's related article.
July 23, 2014 -
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U.S.-Russia tensions over Ukraine haven't yet impacted the flow of critical rocket engines to the U.S. space program, but that could change at any time. The military's top space official says another reason to get going on an American-made alternative is to sustain a deteriorating portion of the defense industrial base.
July 23, 2014 -
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The Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies include more data in its 2016 budget requests for this fall. OMB wants benchmarks and timelines of financial investments so it can organize its cross-agency priority goals. Beth McGrath is director of Deloitte's Federal Practice. She's also former deputy chief management officer at the Defense Department. In a Federal News Radio op-ed and on In Depth with Francis Rose, McGrath said agencies should be making even more business decisions based on data.
July 22, 2014 -
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The military is shrinking, but the Pentagon's personnel costs keep growing. In fact, it pays about $125,000 per active-duty service member, including both salary and benefits. Two Washington think tanks are raising alarms. They say the Pentagon needs to do something now so it doesn't have to cut other critical parts of its budget later on. Steve Bell is senior director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss why the personnel cost has become expensive.
July 22, 2014 -
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"The President of Russia now has a view of history since 1945 that is completely at odds with how the rest of the world looks at history," says Former National Security Advisor James Jones. The real issue, which many view as a festering problem, is Putin's alleged grudge about the way the Cold War turned out. "He believes and he has said that worst thing that has happened in the last century is the dissolution of the Soviet Empire," says Jones.
July 22, 2014 -
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Now is not the time to play 'small ball.' As budgets shrink, agencies should be bold as they look to improve mission effectiveness and modernize operations, says Beth McGrath, former deputy chief management officer at the Pentagon.
July 22, 2014 -
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The goal to get a spending bill done for your agency looks less and less likely by the time the fiscal year ends September 30th. And the other work Congress thought it could get done -- reform at the Department of Veterans Affairs -- seems to be hitting a wall too. David Hawkings is Senior Editor at Roll Call, and he shared the progress for both of these major pieces of work on In Depth with Francis Rose.
July 21, 2014 -
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The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee will consider the nomination of Robert McDonald as the next VA Secretary tomorrow. If the Senate confirms him, he'll inherit a Veterans Health Administration that hasn't had a major review of its healthcare system since the mid-1980s, according to the Military Officers Association of America. Vice Admiral Norb Ryan is president of MOAA. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said Congress and the White House should build a commission focused on reforming the VHA.
July 21, 2014 -
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To maintain readiness under current budget pressure, the Defense Department needs to have a long-term mindset and rethink their force structure, according to Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee.
July 18, 2014 -
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Top Pentagon officials have been railing against the consequences of sequestration ever since the Budget Control Act was passed in 2011. And in their planning documents, they've also decided not to acknowledge the likelihood that the cuts are here to stay. For the last three years, officials have submitted budget requests that exceed the caps in current law, and they've indicated they plan to continue doing so in future years. Even if the Pentagon isn't building its military plans around sequestration, some outside analysts are taking a look at what various scenarios would look like under lower funding levels. One of them is Rob Levinson. He's a senior defense analyst for Bloomberg Government, and shared some financial predictions on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.
July 18, 2014 -
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Cyber criminals are adjusting so quickly that it's become an 'arms race' between them and agency technology officers trying to guard against threats. During a recent Federal News Radio panel discussion, officials shared expertise and tactics for protection.
July 18, 2014
