Dan Doney, the new chief innovation officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, talks about the agency's plan to change the way it interacts with industry and brings innovation to government.
The Partnership for Public Service nominated Kevin Geiss, the Air Force's deputy assistant secretary for energy, for a 2013 Service to America Medal. Geiss' planning helped the service find $1 billion in savings through more efficient fuel usage.
After reaching one of its energy efficiency goals three years early, the Air Force has adopted a more ambitious plan. On this week's edition of On DoD, Dr. Kevin Geiss offers an update on where the Air Force is at now.
On this week's edition of Pentagon Solutions, host Francis Rose looks at the latest information on furloughs at the Defense Department as well as the 2014 budgets for the Army and Air Force.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley will step down in June after nearly five years on the job, the Air Force announced Friday. Donley's last day with the service will be June 21.
The Defense Department's 2014 budget proposal reduces the size of the civilian workforce slightly, increases TRICARE premiums, and requests another round of base closures. It also calls for a slight raise for both civilian employees and uniformed servicemembers. The budget significantly exceeds the Defense spending caps in current law.
In 2006, the service aimed to cut its fuel use by 10 percent. By 2012, it had reduced consumption by 12 percent.
Officials aim to redefine operational series codes for civilian cybersecurity workers and offer more pay for additional expertise. The Air Force would like to create an elite cadre of civilian cyber warriors.
DoD said it is tightening-up governance over its large business IT systems, looking for indicators of future failure and forcing resource sponsors to justify their needs before projects begin. Elizabeth McGrath, DoD's deputy chief management officer, told House lawmakers the Pentagon is working on data quality and changing business processes to avoid previous problems.
The Army expects to mostly finish the migration to enterprise email by the end of this month. The Air Force and the Navy begin pilot tests using the cloud applications.
With sequestration now in effect, the Defense Department says it will have to begin to make decisions that cross the threshold between "reversible" cuts to military capability and those that will have long-lasting impacts.
Small firms already have taken a disproportionate hit from DoD's pullback in 2013 spending, Pentagon officials say. Military acquisition leaders worry the sudden cuts will bankrupt small businesses that provide one-of-a-kind capabilities.
The automatic budget cuts set to occur under sequestration will go into effect as a matter of law on Friday. But their full impact won't be felt until late this spring, long after lawmakers encounter the next budget showdown.
The Republican senator from Oklahoma is asking the Office of Management and Budget to require agencies to stop hiring for certain positions. Instead, he would like that funding put towards mission critical jobs that could be affected by sequestration cuts. Coburn, the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, found 10 jobs listed on USAJobs.gov that he believes could be frozen. He says this would give agencies $1.4 million to spend on positions like border security officers and TSA screeners.
Dr. Mark Maybury, the Air Force's chief scientist, discusses a wide-ranging study of potential future "game changers" and best practices in each of the service's core mission areas.