Defense
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Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter discussed the budget challenges facing the Defense Department and how Pentagon leaders plan to manage through the "era of fiscal uncertainty" in a speech at the National Press Club May 7. Francis played highlights from Carter's speech on Pentagon Solutions.
May 08, 2013 -
The top lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee have called on the Defense Department to detail how it will cut billions more from its budget if sequestration continues into next year. In a letter dated May 2, Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the committee, asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to provide a "package of reductions" to the department's proposed 2014 budget.
May 07, 2013 -
A new Pentagon reports says China state-sponsored industrial espionage to acquire the technology it needs for the foundation of its fast-paced military modernization program. The report says, "China continues to leverage foreign investments, commercial joint ventures, academic exchanges, the experience of repatriated Chinese students and researchers, to build that program. The Intelligence community recently accused China of industrial espionage.
May 07, 2013 -
North Korea appears headed toward the capability to strike the U.S. with a nuclear-armed missile. The Associated Press reports, "In a report to Congress Thursday, the Pentagon made no estimate of when North Korea might achieve that capability. It said the North will move closer to its goal if it continues investing in the testing of nuclear and missile technologies. The report says the North's work on a space-launch vehicle has contributed heavily to its effort to build a missile capable of delivering a warhead to U.S. targets. That work was highlighted by the launch of a satellite into space last December."
May 06, 2013 -
The Pentagon insists it is paying to maintain much more military base infrastructure than it needs, and the problem will only get worse as the Defense Department shrinks due to budget reductions. Congress, however, remains unsympathetic.
May 06, 2013 -
Derrick Dortch will host a roundtable discussion of new programs and initiatives designed to help veterans find jobs or start their own businesses. May 3, 2013
May 03, 2013 -
On the one-year anniversary of the Digital Government Strategy, the CIO Council and DHS are expected to issue a security baseline and reference architecture for mobile computing. The goal of the document is not to give agencies new requirements but to focus on those security standards that are mobile-centric.
May 03, 2013 -
The Pentagon's mobile plan includes device approvals that will involve some up-front costs. The expectation is those costs will be quickly offset by eliminating the inefficiency of the slow, stovepiped and outdated approaches that have characterized DoD mobility up until now.
May 03, 2013 -
Despite vowing to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, President Barack Obama's quest to close it is still running into problems in Congress. So the White House may have to transfer some terror suspects back overseas. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a leading opponent of closure, responded to Obama's latest call by citing last year's administration report that 28 percent of the roughly 600 released detainees were either confirmed or suspected of later engaging in militant activity.
May 02, 2013 -
Currently deployed units and those behind them are fully trained and equipped, the services say. But those next in line "aren't doing much." The fiscal 2013 budget also may be too little, too late in some ship repair and maintenance efforts.
May 02, 2013 -
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Tex.) is a certified public accountant who chaired a year-long series of hearings on DoD audit readiness for the House Armed Services Committee. He spoke with Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu for this week's On DoD.
May 01, 2013 -
Russia's Rosaviatsiya aviation agency has banned its airlines from flying over Syria, after a plane with 160 passengers detoured to avoid danger from fighting on the ground. Syria's civil war has severely impacted airline traffic to and from the country. Reuters reports, most Russian airlines had heeded a recommendation issued in February not to cross Syrian territory but some had ignored the risk and continued to do so on flights to and from Egypt, among other destinations.
May 01, 2013 -
The Pentagon says one of four Air Force members killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan was a pilot from northern Virginia. Capt. The Associated Press reports Brandon Cyr, 28, of Woodbridge, Va., had been stationed at Scott Air Force Base in southwestern Illinois. Cyr died in Saturday's crash of an Air Force MC-12. The cause of the crash is under investigation. The Pentagon says there were no reports of enemy activity in the area at the time. Cyr was an instructor pilot and member of the 906th Air Refueling Squadron within the 375th Air Mobility Wing based at Scott. The base also says Cyr flew with members of the Illinois Air National Guard's 126th Air Refueling Wing.
April 30, 2013 -
An Army helicopter pilot from northern Virginia is one of two soldiers killed in Afghanistan by enemy fire. The Pentagon said Friday that 26-year-old 1st Lt. Robert J. Hess of Fairfax died Tuesday in the Pul-E-Alam district of Logar province in eastern Afghanistan, from wounds suffered as a result of indirect fire. Also killed was 32-year-old Capt. Aaron R. Blanchard of Selah, Wash. Both soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, at Fort Drum, N.Y.
April 29, 2013 -
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been at the forefront of some of the most innovative technologies ever created — including the Internet. But as budgets tighten, the agency's director says she's trying to figure out how to deal with an increasingly complex threat environment as less money flows into the research and development pipeline.
April 29, 2013