Defense
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The Veterans Affairs Department will release the Summary of Care and Blue Button applications for mobile devices this fall. The release is part of a burgeoning effort to create connections with patients outside of the traditional office visit.
September 03, 2014 -
On this week's edition of On DoD, we discuss strategic sourcing in the Navy, plus the current state of the financial management workforce in DoD.
September 02, 2014 -
Russia is ready for talks on resuming gas supplies to Ukraine, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday, warning of disruption to flows to Europe this winter if a row over pricing and debts was not resolved. The EU says gas must not be used as a diplomatic weapon. Novak said Moscow was ready to reduce its prices in an effort to secure a deal, but the proposed sum remained well above what Kiev has said it is willing to pay.
September 02, 2014 -
The Veterans Affairs Department has been making progress on its backlog of disability claims, but outdated technology keeps getting in the way. One bottleneck is the time it takes the VA to receive military medical records from the Defense Department. DoD installed a new system at the beginning of this year to solve that problem. But a look by the inspector general finds that things are as slow as ever. Federal News Radio's DOD Reporter Jared Serbu gives Emily Kopp the details on the Federal Drive. Read Jared's related article.
September 02, 2014 -
Several European Union foreign ministers have accused Russia of invading eastern Ukraine and said Moscow should be punished with more sanctions. The meeting of the 28-nation bloc's top diplomats in Milan came one day after NATO said Moscow has slipped at least 1,000 Russian soldiers and much heavy weaponry into Ukraine.
September 01, 2014 -
In this week's edition of Inside the DoD Reporter's Notebook, Jared Serbu examines news and buzz in the Defense community that you might have missed including: DoD-VA medical record sharing still too slow; VA kicks off new drive to hire docs; DISA plans follow-on to Encore II contract
August 29, 2014 -
Conversation with Authors: Professor Harry Lambright on Leaders and Leadership - Lessons from Robert Gates, Francis Collins, and NASA Administrators
August 29, 2014 -
The Pentagon may need to ask Congress for more money if the Obama administration steps up attacks against ISIL. DoD has not yet stated publicly how much it has spent so far in the fight against ISIL. The U.S. operation in Iraq so far has included relief drops of 636 bundles of food, water and medical supplies, at least 100 air strikes and about 60 reconnaissance aircraft missions a day.
August 29, 2014 -
Maj. Gen. Michael T. Harrison drops in rank from two-star to one-star for failing to investigate sexual assault accusations.
August 29, 2014 -
Air Force's new community partnership program looks to cut the costs of running bases by sharing operating and maintenance costs with the local communities in their neighborhoods.
August 29, 2014 -
ASBCA sounds like the people telling you to be nice to dogs. But the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals is all about military contracting, and what happens when it goes wrong. The Board has adopted some new rules to help streamline things and iron out ambiguities. In this week's legal loop, Procurement Attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with the details.
August 28, 2014 -
A new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board says that it's time for Congress to simplify the overly complex veterans preference laws to make sure they're doing what Congress put them in place to do.
August 28, 2014 -
One of the longest-running conflicts the Pentagon deals with is the fight over employee performance management. The National Security Personnel System only lasted a couple of years before Congress voted it out of existence. Now the Defense Department is taking another shot at employee performance management. Pete Randazzo is Local 1690 Union President for the National Federation of Federal Employees. Randazzo was co-lead for a Performance Management Design Team that offered recommendations to the Pentagon. He explained his team's work on In Depth with Francis Rose.
August 28, 2014 -
Reserve officers face a continuing dilemma. They often want to stay current enough to return to active duty if needed. Yet, they also need to pursue their other professional lives. Now the Air Force is adopting a program pioneered by the Navy and Marine Corps to let them do just that. Col. Rob Romer, chief of the military force policy division, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the new program.
August 28, 2014 -
A two-star Army general blamed for failing to properly investigate sexual assault and other allegations against a colonel on his staff will be retired with one star the Army announced Wednesday. The Associated Press's Robert Burns writes, "The decision by Army Secretary John M. McHugh comes more than a year after Maj. Gen. Michael T. Harrison was suspended from his duties as commander of U.S. Army forces in Japan. His case has been cited as evidence of why sex-crime victims say they don't trust the military to protect them, despite efforts by senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, to make commanders accountable."
August 28, 2014