Defense Department
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Number of reported sexual assaults in the military rose 50 percent between 2012 and 2013. The Defense Department says it's confident the figure doesn't reflect more crimes, but that more victims are comfortable enough to come forward.
May 02, 2014 -
The House Armed Services Committee will soon mark up the National Defense Authorization Act. But all the subcommittee markups may be for nothing. The Obama Administration says it can't submit an Overseas Contingency Operation budget until it knows the results of the election in Afghanistan and some leaders in the House say the NDAA doesn't mean much without the OCO budget request. Roger Zakheim is counsel at Covington and Burling and former general counsel and deputy staff director of the House Armed Services Committee and former deputy assistant secretary of Defense. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose the next round of defense spending negotiations might not mean anything.
May 01, 2014 -
Defense officials report an unprecedented increase in reported cases of sexual assault in the military during 2013. Those cases are up 50 percent more than the year before. Federal News Radio's DoD reporter Jared Serbu has more on what the Pentagon thinks the statistics mean. Read Federal News Radio's related article.
May 01, 2014 -
Today is the first official day on the job for Bob Work as deputy secretary of Defense. The Senate confirmed him yesterday by voice vote. He's a known quantity at DoD. He left as deputy secretary of the Navy about a year ago. Federal News Radio's Tom Temin says Work has a great reputation.
May 01, 2014 -
The National Defense Authorization Act is almost ready for the full House Armed Services Committee to review. One certainty is that the final dollar total will be smaller than last year. The Pentagon will make many hard decisions in the coming years, but it will have data and other tools to help make those decisions. John Powers, principal at Deloitte and leader of its Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructuring practice, and Beth McGrath, director of Deloitte's federal practice and former deputy chief management officer and performance improvement officer at the Defense Department, were Francis Rose's guests for Industry Chatter.
May 01, 2014 -
The 2009 reform aimed at ending the Pentagon's practice of overpromising the weapons systems it could deliver within the budgets it was asking for is showing signs of success. But DoD's acquisition chief says no amount of legislating will solve cost overruns.
May 01, 2014 -
It's still far too early to celebrate, but there are some signs that the reforms may be paying off five years after Congress passed its most recent attempt to fix the Defense Department's acquisition system. Federal News Radio's DoD reporter Jared Serbu has more.
April 30, 2014 -
The National Defense Authorization Act for this year will include an increase for cyber operations. It's one of the few budget categories that will go up in the defense budget. Ben FitzGerald, a senior fellow and director of the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, is writing about potential models for success in cyber command and control structure.
April 30, 2014 -
The first day of markups for the National Defense Authorization Act includes a big win for military personnel advocates but potentially a big swing and a miss too. The Personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee rejects cuts to housing allowances...commissary funding and changes to TRICARE that would make some participants pay more themselves. The subcommittee didn't say anything about a 1 percent pay raise for troops for 2015 though. Retired Army Col. Mike Barron, deputy director of government relations at the Military Officers Association of America, shares his views on In Depth with Francis Rose.
April 30, 2014 -
The military has doubled-down on efforts to prevent sexual assault. They've labeled this month "Sexual Assault Awareness Month." It's a topic Sgt. Maj. of the Army Ray Chandler brings up whenever he visits soldiers. He says "Take back your Army" from those who commit sexual assault. Chandler told Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp some of the most recent statistics about sexual assault in the Army.
April 30, 2014 -
Corruption and instability in Afghanistan threaten to derail billions of dollars of U.S. aid. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko recounts the problems in a new report to Congress. His team investigated $31 billion worth of programs and projects during the first three months of this year. Sopko told Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp some of the mistakes discovered through the report.
April 30, 2014 -
A few years after then-Defense secretary Robert Gates put the Marine Corps' variant of the F-35 fighter on "probation" because of poor performance, the Marine Corps is optimistic about the plane's future and the rest of the aviation portfolio. That's the message the service's top aviation official delivered to the Center For Strategic And International Studies yesterday. Dr. Maren Leed, senior adviser at CSIS, hosted the event. She tells Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu the Marine Corps' aviation programs are looking healthier than most other areas of weapon system acquisition in DoD.
April 29, 2014 -
The Air Force could be facing a perfect storm of personnel issues when it comes to scientific talent. It's hard to attract young scientists to government work over a higher paid industry job. Dr. Mica Endsley, chief scientist of the Air Force, tells In Depth with Francis Rose that as many senior officials seek early retirement, the Air Force is looking at a gap in its pipeline of future leaders in the science and engineering fields.
April 29, 2014 -
The Army broke ground last week on what will become the Defense Department's largest solar energy project ever. The Fort Huachuca, Ariz., solar project will provide the Army with renewable energy at no additional cost to the government. As Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu reports, the Army sets aside dozens of acres of southern Arizona land for the solar panels. In exchange for the land, a local utility company will build and operate them. Read Federal News Radio's related article.
April 29, 2014 -
The Fort Huachuca, Ariz., solar project will provide the Army with renewable energy at no additional cost to the government. The solar panels are expected to provide 18 megawatts of electricity, enough to light a small-sized city.
April 29, 2014