Katherine Hammack, the assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and the Environment, said many of the cost-cutting measures the Army will be forced to take because of sequestration, such as letting service and maintenance contracts expire, could have a trickle-down effect on service members.
Army says its implementation of DoD's Better Buying Power directives saved hundreds of millions of dollars last year, but this year's budget chaos will undo much of the progress.
Television personality Montel Williams is joining Army scientists at Fort Detrick in a medical research deal.
Army leadership is looking to improve coordination among its mental health programs and other soldier-resilience efforts, acknowledging Monday that a patchwork system of tools is often confusing for both commanders and soldiers.
Shortfalls in operating accounts would mean military units would be undertrained, underequipped and unable to deploy by the end of fiscal 2013, senior DoD officials predict.
Alan Paller of the SANS Institute talks about DoD's new initiative to hire 4,000 more people for its Cyber Command. Paul Terry of Blackboard, Inc., discusses how his company is helping GSA with its travel planning. Devon Hewitt, a partner at Protorae Law, weighs in on a recent contract award protest affecting people with disabilities. Capt. Paul Hammer of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, talks about the latest efforts at his center. Robin Lineberger of Deloitte LLP fills us in about the Professional Services Council's new commission that's focusing on efficient and innovative acquisition issues.
Eric Green of NIH talks about his agency's search for a top data scientist. Dr. Elizabeth Stanley of Georgetown University discusses a new meditation program she helped develop for the Marine Corps. David Capozzi of the Access Board discusses new access standards for agencies. William Pretzer of the National Museum of African American History and Culture talks about trolling the inauguration for presidential memorabilia.
DoD's operations and maintenance accounts will likely be hit first if sequestration goes into effect. Unlike its procurement and research and development activities, which can continue to function on funds obligated in prior years, O&M dollars generally get spent right away. In preparation for sequestration, the Pentagon has already let go of tens of thousands of temporary hires and is drawing up a contingency plan for one-day-a-week furloughs. Deputy Secretary Ashton Carter says the unpaid furloughs would begin in April and continue through the remainder of the fiscal year if sequestration is not avoided.
On Thursday, DoD eliminated its Clinton-era policy that excluded women from serving in many front-line jobs. But full implementation will not happen immediately.
The Army has put an immediate freeze on civilian hiring and will begin terminating some temporary employees to reduce spending ahead of potential across-the-board budget cuts later this year. Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno and Army Secretary John McHugh also directed Army commanders and supervisors to reduce base-operations support spending.
Paul Mehney is with the Army's office of System of Systems Integration. In this week's edition of On DoD, he fills us in in what the Army's planning for the next NIE, and what it's learned from the unorthodox testing and acquisition process so far.
At the end of fiscal year 2012, the Army's vehicle fleet numbered around 70,800 vehicles, which is about 12,000 less than it had in 2009. As it cuts back on the number of overall vehicles it has, the Army is also assembling a greener, more environmentally friendly fleet.
Martin Libicki of Rand Corp talks about managing cyber attacks. Kevin Brancato of Bloomberg Government discusses the Canada's decision to pass on the F-35. John Templeton of BlackMoney.com talks about being an African American in IT. Belva Martin of GAO discusses the new network communications strategy.
Reports of unwanted sexual contact increased sharply in the past academic year. The Pentagon believes the spike shows more reporting, not more crimes.
A decade in the making, the Army gets the nod to start deploying a multi-billion dollar computing infrastructure to support intelligence work.