Defense Department
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"Inside the DoD's Reporter's Notebook" is biweekly feature focused on news about the Defense Department and defense community as gathered by Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu.
May 02, 2014 -
Congress takes its first real action next week on whether or not to accept the cost-saving ideas DoD put forward in its 2015 budget proposal. And so far, it's looking like those proposals are going to be shredded. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu is writing about the current process of putting together the annual National Defense Authorization Act in this week's edition of Inside the DoD Reporter's Notebook.
May 02, 2014 -
Better Buying Power 3.0 is coming soon from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. But sustained, measurable defense acquisition reform will require more stakeholders than just OSD. Jon Etherton, principal of Etherton and Associates, senior fellow of the National Defense Industrial Association and a longtime veteran of the defense acquisition field, ttestified at this week's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about defense acquisition reform. He told In Depth with Francis Rose his main message for the committee was why reform can work this time around.
May 02, 2014 -
More than half of senior executives surveyed by the Senior Executives Association are reporting "low" or "very low" morale with their jobs. The problem lies with a pay-for-performance system where some supervisors make less money than the people they lead. Increasing numbers of senior executive service members are ready to leave the federal government altogether.
May 02, 2014 -
The Pentagon has released its annual report on sexual assault. The report, which includes a multi-faceted strategy to prevent sexual assault, indicates that alcohol often plays a significant role in the commission of sexual assault. The report says alcohol impairs one's ability to identify a sexual assault threat and is sometimes used as a tool to reduce the victim's resistance or totally incapacitate a victim. The strategy against sexual assault includes five elements: prevention, investigation, accountability, advocacy and assessment of the program.
May 02, 2014 -
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