The DoD Special Missions Wing in Afghanistan does not have adequate personnel to man its existing and planned aircraft fleet, according to an audit from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The air wing only has one fourth of the recruits needed to achieve full strength to be able to handle 48 newly purchased aircraft.
A bipartisan group of senators has written to top Army officials to express concern about delays in the suspension and debarment process that leave the service open to contracting waste and fraud. In a letter to Army Secretary John McHugh and Chief of Staff Raymond Odierno, the senators questioned "significant time lapses" between referrals for suspension and actual debarment of contractors in Afghanistan.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said President Barack Obama has failed to produce a workable budget plan, while Vice President Joe Biden said budgets introduced by Ryan "eviscerated all the things that the middle class cares about."
On this week's Bloomberg Government Capital Impact show, analysts will talk about what's next for sequestration, options for repairing the Harrier jet, technology that Israel could use to respond to the Iranian nuclear threat, and why certain medications may be in short supply. October 4, 2012
Gen. John Allen said he was focusing on re-vetting the 16,000 local police stationed throughout the country.
Marine Lt. Gen Richard Mills told an audience at a conference in Baltimore last that he led cyber attacks in Afghanistan.
The State Department has a gap in its work force. It has too few experienced, mid-level career foreign service employees. It's the result of several factors...and it's a serious problem.
Despite planned budget cuts, the military is moving ahead to design a new tactical truck to replace the Humvee, which is vulnerable to roadside bombs and isn't expected meet the demands of future conflicts.
DoD has asked Congress to reprogram $1 billion from accounts dedicated to building up Afghanistan's national security forces.
The watchdog overseeing contract spending in Afghanistan said the amount of waste and fraud is "significant" in that country. "Contingency contracting is an area that is susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse, more so, certainly, than domestic government contracting," said Steven Trent, acting Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, in an interview with The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
The Defense Department is the single largest consumer of energy in the world, and as part of a broad strategy to shift consumption to renewable sources, the Marine Corps is rolling out its Ground Renewable Expeditionary Energy Network System (GREENS). Project manager Michael Gallagher told In Depth that GREENS saves not only fossil fuels and money, but also lives.
The cascading effects of the Obama administration\'s decision to pull thousands of soldiers out of Iraq and Afghanistan are rippling through the National Guard.
NATO and its members say a network they constructed to tie together the national networks of the various militaries operating in Afghanistan is a success story — except for the fact that the network took eight years to get up and running. But U.S. Defense officials said they have a better understanding for future coalition operations for how best to build such a network.
The White House has asked the Pentagon for initial recommendations for the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan in 2014. It is the first step in planning the final U.S. drawdown, despite a bleak security outlook.
Senior defense leaders told Congress they\'ve already made huge steps toward implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Wartime Contracting. Former members of the panel say DoD still has a lot of work to do.