Defense
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Defense Department spending rises every year, even after sequestration. But the fighting force is shrinking. In effect, DoD is doing less with more. Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro, head of the Punaro Group, has been saying on Capitol Hill that Congress and the Pentagon need to tackle their built-in costs. The DOD Comptroller recently said the department would get 96 percent of what it asked for in 2017. Federal Drive with Tom Temin asked Punaro if that's a useful metric.
December 04, 2015 -
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said "no exceptions" when ordering the military services to open all of their combat specialties to women, effective 30 days from now. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu shares the details with Federal Drive with Tom Temin.
December 04, 2015 -
The decision opens up 214,000 military billets to female service members, and also makes them subject to involuntary assignment to previously-closed combat roles. Congress says it will examine whether women should also be required to register as potential draftees.
December 03, 2015 -
A group of former and current federal executives advise against making the mobility provisions in the executive order to reform the Senior Executive Service too narrow.
December 03, 2015 -
Defense experts urge the Senate Armed Services Committee to consider adding more flexibility to current promotional structures for military and civilian personnel. The Defense Officer Personnel Management Act, which Congress passed in 1980, is too outdated, they said.
December 03, 2015 -
The military's focus on present operations is letting future readiness languish, Marine Corps and Army officials told Congress.
December 03, 2015 -
The Defense Department wants its employees, Congress and anyone else to know this. The proposals Secretary Ash Carter announced last month under his Force of the Future initiative are only the first round. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy Anthony Kurta said the department needs to embrace a major shift in human capital reform to prepare for a new kind of military and civilian workforce. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin institutional change won't be easy.
December 03, 2015 -
Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan announced three major efforts to boost privacy and civil liberties across the government. OMB will create a new federal privacy council modeled after the CIO Council and issue new guidance in the coming months.
December 03, 2015 -
Speed matters, says Federal Drive host Tom Temin. When Defense Secretary Robert Gates stomped and hollered when MRAPs weren't there during the height of the Iraq war, by golly, DoD found a contractor to build them in march time.
December 02, 2015 -
The Defense Department will not be releasing a Better Buying Power 4.0 and will instead focus on policies from the past five years, which the under secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics said have been working.
December 02, 2015 -
The Army says its nascent electronic warfare program has plenty of people. Now it needs to train and equip them to do their jobs. But as Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin, those parts are coming soon.
December 02, 2015 -
Pentagon brass are starting to get specific about the technologies they're looking for to produce the military advantage they'll need. The so-called third offset strategy acknowledges that the edge from stealth and guided munitions has evaporated. Bloomberg defense analyst Rob Levinson has been following the offset strategy and tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin what the defense industry can expect and what military planners are hoping to achieve.
December 02, 2015 -
The Army's top electronic warfare officer says the service has done a good job of rebuilding its personnel following 20 years in which the Army had no meaningful EW program, but still lags in training and tools.
December 02, 2015 -
Anthony Kurta, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy, said the Defense Department is beginning to overcome institutional barriers to change as it implements initial reforms in Secretary Ash Carter's "Force of the Future" plan.
December 02, 2015 -
The Office of Personnel Management Tuesday opened its online answer desk for potential victims of the massive data breach. So far, OPM says it has sent out more than 17 million letters to victims.
December 01, 2015