Six months after 34-year-old IT contractor Aaron Alexis opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard killing 12 people, concerns about missed red flags in his background and gaps in the security clearance process are now turning into action. The Obama administration released the findings of a interagency review of the federal security clearance process Tuesday. Among the 13 recommendations for shoring up the system are continuously evaluating clearance holders rather than relying on infrequent check-ups and improving investigators' access to state and local police records.
Newly-released results of three parallel investigations into last September's Washington Navy Yard shootings point to serious gaps in the government's own security process. But the Navy's review finds the killings could have been prevented if the shooter's employer had disclosed troubling details about his recent behavior.
The Defense Department's civilian workforce is in Congressional crossfire.
Air Force officials say their service already was facing readiness issues because of the high operational tempo of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But sequestration worsened the problems, and continuing the budget caps will set back a readiness recovery.
Gen. Keith Alexander, who will soon retire as the first commander of U.S. Cyber Command, said his organization has matured to the point that it should join the club of unified commands that report directly to the President.
A higher slot on the military's organizational chart for U.S. Cyber Command.
Spending for military bases takes a backseat in the Defense Department's 2015 budget.
Rob Anderson, the chief of the Vision and Strategy Division in the Marine Corps Command, Control, Communication and Computers (C4) office, said reducing the monthly data and voice fees for even 50 percent of the current employees using BlackBerrys could mean as much as $5 million that the Marines could transfer to readiness and operations and maintenance accounts. March 13, 2014
The Merit Systems Protection Board seeks additional resources in its fiscal 2015 budget request to improve staffing and IT infrastructure. The agency is working through more than 32,000 furlough appeals in addition to its regular workload and also expects a wave of administrative judge retirements.
The Pentagon's 2015 budget request includes sharp cuts in funding for construction and maintenance on military bases, which congressional appropriators immediately denounced. But Defense officials say they could do a better job of maintaining military bases if they were allowed to close they ones they no longer need.
Vice Admiral Norb Ryan, president of the Military Officer's Association of America, was Francis Rose's guest for Pentagon Solutions.
Lt. Col. Daniel Johnston, an Army physician and the program manager for Army Fit, talks to DoD Reporter Jared Serbu about the Army's technology platform that it hopes will take the service's comprehensive resilience effort further.
Federal News Radio's DoD Reporter Jared Serbu offers news tidbits and buzz about the Defense Department.
The Obama administration says the Defense Department needs an additional $26 billion in excess of next year's Defense spending caps in order to carry out DoD's mission. But even the staunchest defenders of the Pentagon budget on Capitol Hill acknowledge that the extra funding is unlikely to materialize.
DoD's cost savings proposals for 2015 and beyond include something for every lawmaker to hate. The process of selling the budget on Capitol Hill officially kicked off Wednesday, and the reception was not exceptionally warm.