Defense Department
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The Defense Department is preparing a new edition of Better Buying Power. It'll be the third version of the Pentagon's effort to reshape how it acquires what it needs. Bill Greenwalt, a fellow at the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and former deputy under secretary of Defense for industrial policy, is writing about defense acquisition reform in Breaking Defense.
April 28, 2014 -
Teri Takai will leave this week after serving as CIO since 2010. Takai assumed her current role in November 2010 after the Pentagon recruited her from California, where she had been serving as that state's CIO. She held the same job for the state of Michigan prior to that. She made the announcement about her departure this morning at a Chief Information Officers' Council meeting.
April 28, 2014 -
The Defense Department's efforts to prevent suicide have borne some fruit. The overall rate dropped by 15 percent last year. But that good news masks some trouble in the Army National Guard and Reserve. There, the rate increased, leaving some to question whether the Defense Department is reaching those who don't live on base. It's even harder to say whether recent veterans are benefiting from the efforts. Jackie Maffucci, research director at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, explained the numbers to Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
April 28, 2014 -
The Defense Department and the industries it depends on have made their way through budget downturns before, but this one is different. Both budgets and threats are uncertain.
April 25, 2014 -
The Pentagon and its suppliers have made it through defense spending downturns before. But they say this one's different because it poses risks they've never seen before - both for the companies themselves, and for future military capabilities. More from Federal News Radio's DoD reporter Jared Serbu.
April 24, 2014 -
The Defense Department is not keeping track of all the senior officials who leave for jobs with contractors. Congress requires those officials, including flag officers and generals, to get written legal opinions before moving on. Lots of paperwork involved. But at DoD, the inspector general says the database that tracks the moves is incomplete. In this week's Legal Loop, Steve Ryan, an experienced corporate litigator and head of the government strategies practice at McDermott, Will and Emery, talks to Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp about the revolving door at the Pentagon.
April 24, 2014 -
Members of Congress aren't happy with the Air Force's proposal to cut entire fleets of aircraft out of its inventory. But the service insists it's the only way to comply with the budget caps Congress created, and the alternatives would be far more painful.
April 24, 2014 -
The military's Vice Chiefs of Staff tell Congress the pressure they're under because of budget cuts and the potential return of sequestration in Fiscal 2016 is killing their ability to fight two wars. But Congress doesn't appear to want to pull back on capability, only on money. Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, writes in US News and World Report about why the chiefs are so concerned about the funding curve. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose, too much mission and too little money worries the Vice Chiefs of the military.
April 23, 2014 -
Dennis McGinn, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, says the pursuit of renewable energy is not just about the Navy "going green." It supports the mission.
April 23, 2014 -
Navy says the Defense Production Act and a new partnership with USDA will help it generate several hundred million gallons per year of U.S.-based biofuel. The solicitations it plans to issue over the next year are a key stepping stone to the Navy's goal of getting half its energy from alternative sources by 2020.
April 23, 2014 -
The Navy says it will move forward this year to create two new acquisition vehicles to ensure it has a stable supply of advanced biofuels. And as Federal News Radio's DoD reporter Jared Serbu reports, the service says it won't be any more expensive than petroleum products.
April 22, 2014 -
Renewable energy is a big priority for the Department of the Navy. The ultimate renewable energy source for a ship at sea is of course seawater. Now the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is making big steps toward using seawater for fuel. Dr. Heather Willauer, research chemist at the Naval Research Laboratory, tells In Depth with Francis Rose what they've found on the path to making seawater fuel the Navy's fleet.
April 22, 2014 -
The Defense Department names nine winners for the 2014 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards. They choose the winners from 33 nominations. The winners represent nine different categories and six subject areas. Maureen Sullivan, director of environment, safety and occupational health at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, discusses a few of the highlights of the winners with In Depth with Francis Rose.
April 22, 2014 -
A new medical device is coming to aid soldiers on the battlefield. XSTAT is an expandable, multi-sponge dressing that controls bleeding in areas where tourniquets cannot. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the device. Dr. Kenton Gregory is chairman and chief technology officer at RevMedX, the company that makes XSTAT. He told Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp how the device works.
April 22, 2014 -
The Army says it must shrink to 490,000 by October 2015, and then to 450,000 two years later. If automatic budget cuts resume, the Army will have to reduce to 420,000. The Associated Press reports while a lot of the reduction may come from voluntary retirements, resignations and decreased enlistments, Army commanders will have to force as many as 3,000 officers to leave by the end of October 2015. Of those, nearly 1,500 are captains, 550 are majors.
April 22, 2014