Defense
The sequestration cuts that began in 2013 weren't just detrimental to federal agency missions, they harmed the economy to boot, said Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve. He said even though long-term deficits are a problem, short-term federal spending cuts aren’t the answer.
August 18, 2015-
The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments are a long way from deploying new electronic health record systems that can communicate with each other. Both agencies didn't meet a deadline last year to make sure their data complies with national standards. Valerie Melvin is director of information management and technology resources issues at GAO. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose why defined goals would help both departments better measure their progress.
August 18, 2015 -
Two women will graduate from the Army's Ranger School Friday. They are the first females to pass the grueling combat training program. But they're not guaranteed assignments with the Ranger regiment. New Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley will likely recommend which jobs should be open to women. Steve Bucci is a senior fellow for homeland security and defense issues at the Heritage Foundation and former assistant deputy secretary of defense and retired Army Special Forces officer. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose, what's next for the Ranger graduates.
August 18, 2015 -
More than 1,400 Syrian civilians were killed by their own government in 2012 during a nerve agent chemical attack. The United States and Syria negotiated a deal to destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. But no country with a proper destruction facility would accept the task. That's where an interagency team led by Tim Blades and Paul Gilmour stepped in. Blades is the director of operations for the Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center; Gilmour is the deputy director of ship operations for the U.S. Maritime Administration. For their work, they were named two of the 33 finalists for this year's Service to America Medals. They joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to recap their dangerous work.
August 18, 2015 -
Congress knows it wants to include some kind of acquisition reform in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. But it can't agree on what those reforms should look like. Beth McGrath is director of the federal strategy and operations practice at Deloitte and former deputy chief management officer at the Defense Department. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose why procurement policy reform is a start, but the main thing slowing down defense IT and weapons acquisition is process.
August 17, 2015 The Department of Defense launched its revamped anti -improvised explosive device agency with a new name and broader mission capacity. JIDA monitors new trends in IED development, weapons, tactics and techniques used by enemy combatants and stops them before they can do damage.
August 17, 2015-
If progress stalls against the Islamic State terrorist group, the U.S. military should start embedding troops with forces battling the Islamic State militants in Iraq. That's according to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, who's retiring this month after a 39-year Army career. But what's the feasibility of Odierno's recommendation, and would it even work? Retired Lt. Gen. Dave Barno is a former senior American commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and now a distinguished practitioner-in-residence at American University. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to analyze the plan.
August 17, 2015 -
The Defense Department’s program to let employees use smartphones on the secret network is becoming more popular than ever imagined.
August 17, 2015 -
GSA, on behalf of the Defense Information Systems Agency, made a $296 million award for email-as-a-service to Dell Federal. GSA made the award to Dell June 19.
August 17, 2015 -
Next week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hundreds of the military’s smartest minds will come together for the biggest annual gathering in the world of military medicine. In past years, the Military Health System Research Symposium has led to the expansion of revolutionary new practices in combat care – many of which have made their way into the civilian sector. Col.Todd Rasmussen directs the Army’s Combat Casualty Care Research Program, and Rear Adm. Bruce Doll directs research and development at the Defense Health Agency. They talked with Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu about what they expect from next week’s conference.
August 14, 2015 -
Steven W. Zander leads the Air Force Community Partnership, which helps bases and local communities reach mutually beneficial agreements on services and facilities.
August 14, 2015 -
The Defense Department has a new agency. It's the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency , or JIDA. The new combat support agency is built from what had been the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. Army Maj. Gen. Julie Benz is the Acting Director of JIDA. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the agency and its refreshed mission.
August 14, 2015 -
As part of the standup of four new Navy warfighting development centers, the Office of Naval Research seeks to insert the testing and prototyping of new technologies into the Navy’s regular training exercises.
August 14, 2015 -
The Navy says it’s setting up what it hopes will be repeatable, regular processes for testing new technologies that seem like good candidates for fielding throughout its fleet. The objective is to turn the Navy’s existing training exercises into regular proving grounds for new innovations. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu has details.
August 13, 2015 -
The Defense Department’s program to let employees use smartphones on the secret network is becoming rather popular. After moving from the pilot to its full production stage in June, the Defense Mobile Classified Capability–Secret is in demand not just in the military, but across the government. Federal News Radio’s executive editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with details on why DoD’s program is so popular.
August 13, 2015