Defense Department
-
The intelligence community and the Defense Department are both trying to build IT networks that attempt to get rid of IT stovepipes. In the process, they've found a few ways to work together.
May 14, 2014 -
The Air Force does a 180 and now predicts it will meet the September and the 2017 financial management deadlines. Government auditors and Senate lawmakers agree the key to this effort is whether the Defense Department can upgrade and improve their track record in implementing ERP systems.
May 14, 2014 -
Ten years ago, the federal government was faced with a crisis in managing security clearances: costly delays and backlogs in performing background investigations. The Office of Personnel Management stepped in and tremendous progress clearing the backlog and meeting strict new timelines mandated by Congress. But some critics now worry too much focus has been put on speed in the process — and not enough attention has been given to quality. In our special report, Questioning Clearances, Federal News Radio examines why efforts to measure the quality of background investigations have stalled.
May 14, 2014 -
The Defense Department is the largest consumer of oil in the United States, according to the New America Foundation. Now the Foundation is hiring one of the senior leaders in charge of making that oil consumption more efficient. Sharon Burke, senior adviser for the International Security Program at the New America Foundation and former assistant secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs, talks to In Depth with Francis Rose.
May 13, 2014 -
The Department of Defense is asking contractors to innovate in helping the agency deal with its budget problems. The Pentagon says innovation is important for a lot of reasons. Alan Shaffer, acting assistant secretary of Defense for research and engineering, says DoD's innovation shortfall today is several decades in the making. He joins In Depth with Francis Rose in Executive Suite.
May 13, 2014 -
In this edition of Inside the Reporter's Notebook, Executive Editor Jason Miller shares news and buzz about the IT and acquisition communities.
May 09, 2014 -
The House Armed Services Committee is marking up the Pentagon's 2015 Defense Authorization bill today. Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) has a series of proposals that include some accounting finesse to appropriate more than $2 billion worth of unobligated funds into next year. He wants to balance that with some targeted spending cuts too. John Donnelly, editor of Congressional Quarterly's Defense Blog, tells In Depth with Francis Rose the balance in the 2015 Defense Authorization bill gets more precarious the longer the markup goes.
May 07, 2014 -
The Navy is scrapping a plan to overhaul one of its 11 aircraft carriers. The Defense Department says doing that frees up money to spend on the Littoral Combat Ship program. Everett Pyatt is leader of the Project for Defense Management and Acquisition Leadership Program at the McCain Institute and a former assistant secretary of the Navy. He's writing in Real Clear Defense about the Navy's budget plans.
May 07, 2014 -
The intelligence community, like the rest of government, is coping with a sudden budget decrease. But leaders say they're committed to not repeating the serious workforce mistakes policymakers made during the last budget cut two decades ago, when new hiring ground to a halt. Read the related story by Jared Serbu.
May 07, 2014 -
Today is markup day for the National Defense Authorization Act in the House Armed Services Committee. Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) has already killed the idea of approving a round of Base Realignment and Closure this year. But the Defense Department sees the potential for some progress on another round of BRAC. John Conger, acting deputy undersecretary of Defense for installations and environment, talked to In Depth with Francis Rose about the effort the Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) is making to push toward a BRAC round.
May 07, 2014 -
John Hickey, the mobility program manager for the Defense Information Systems Agency, talks about the status of DoD's commercial mobile device programs, for both classified and unclassified communications. Greg Wenzel, a senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, discusses the findings of a recent survey of government employees about DoD acquisition.
May 07, 2014 -
The House Armed Services Committee releases a blueprint of the National Defense Authorization Act. The $601 billion measure hardly resembles the Pentagon's wish list. It rejects most of the department's ideas for saving money. Staff writer Martin Matishak has been following this closely for the Hill Newspaper. He provided insight for Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
May 06, 2014 -
Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has released a $601 billion spending plan that saves the Cold War era U-2 spy plane from the chopping block and also would force the Pentagon to keep the A-10 Warthog in storage. It's all a part of a plan resulting in smaller military budgets after 13 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ironically, though, the plan also denies the Pentagon's request for another round of military base closures to get rid of unnecessary facilities and save $1.4 billion.
May 06, 2014 -
Congress is taking its first real action on whether or not to accept the cost-saving ideas DoD put forward in its 2015 budget proposal. And so far, it looks like Congress will shred those proposals. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu writes about the annual National Defense Authorization Act in the latest edition of Inside the DoD Reporter's Notebook. He described some of the initial reactions from Congress so far.
May 05, 2014 -
The military is putting more resources into covert programs. The Pentagon asks Congress for nearly $54 billion for classified, special access and intelligence programs. That would be an increase of 2.2 percent at a time when most other spending would be flat. Rob Levinson, senior defense analyst for Bloomberg Government, explained the "secret spending" to Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
May 05, 2014