Defense Department
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A directive signed this week by the secretary of the Army requires high-level review and analysis of any proposal to insource contracting functions. Outside groups have accused DoD of insourcing workers based on arbitrary quotas.
February 04, 2011 -
POLITICO\'s Jen Di Mascio explains how the protests in Egypt could affect U.S. contractors doing business there.
February 03, 2011 -
The Defense Department said in a report made public Wednesday that it continued to do business with more than a dozen vendors who has been debarred or suspended for fraud. DoD says it intends to implement training and issue guidance to correct the problem.
February 02, 2011 -
From “Contracting officers get too friendly with contractors, senator says” by Matthew Weigelt at Washington Technology: Contracting officers should stick to auditors’ conclusions on contract pricing to keep the officers’ perhaps impaired judgment out of…
February 02, 2011 -
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) asked DoD officials to be audit ready in anticipation of budget cuts. GAO has not been able to form an auditable opinion of them in over a decade.
February 02, 2011 -
The Arab world is consumed by protests demanding democracy and justice. Yemen\'s president, is hoping to shut-down unrest by offering concessions. But will they be enough? The changes sweeping the region may mean upheaval is not far away. Sporadic demonstrations have already struck the poor Arabian Peninsula state. And the protests are taking place with the understanding that Al Qaida sympathizer Anwar Al Awlaki has urged attacks there to deal with their discontent.
February 02, 2011 -
Carrying with knives and sticks gangs roam and rule the streets of the Tunisian town of Gessrine. Yesterday those gangs attacked government buildings and they threatened residents. The gangs burnt a youth center and attacked a number of other buildings in. Police were largely absent on the streets on Monday and the Army has had trouble restoring order in Gessrine. The uprising in Tunisia that led to the sacking of former President Ben Ali, is largely responsible for the revolution unfolding in Egypt.
February 02, 2011 -
Egypt\'s military chief of staff cut short a visit to the Pentagon because of anti-government. U.S. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright said that Egypt\'s Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Anan flew home, just two days into a planned week of meetings in Washington. Anan was in the U.S. for the highest level strategic talks each year between Washington and Cairo. Repeating the Obama administration\'s position on upheaval in Egypt, Cartwright urged the Egyptian government to show restraint in how it deals with protesters.
February 02, 2011 -
So what will the new terror alert system look like? The National Terrorism Advisory System will be implemented over the next 90 days. Under the new system, DHS and other federal entities to issue formal, detailed alerts when the federal government receives information about a specific or credible terrorist threat. They\'ll provide a concise summary of the potential threat and actionable information.
February 02, 2011 -
268 American troops were killed last year by roadside bombs in Afghanistan. The Pentagon says since the U.S. invasion in October 2001, 619 U.S. troops have been killed and another 5,764 have been wounded in improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. Overall, at least 1,370 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began. Last year was, by far, the deadliest for all foreign troops, including Americans, with 702 killed, eclipsing the 2009 record of 504. While the number is high, it\'s about a third of what the number was in Iraq.
February 02, 2011 -
Did the Chinese pilfer the technology to build their stealth fighter. An official Chinese newspaper has dismissed a report that the country used technology taken from a downed U.S. airplane in its own stealth fighter program. But the concerns are not going away. The Chinese staged the first-known test flight of its J-20 prototype stealth fighter that could one day challenge American air superiority.
February 02, 2011 -
A British court on Friday approved the extradition of a terror suspect wanted in the United States over an alleged plot to detonate explosives aboard the New York City subway system. According to the Associated Press, Judge Quentin Purdy said that 24-year-old Abid Naseer can be sent for to the U.S. to stand trial for his alleged role in a terror campaign that would have struck at targets in Britain, Norway and the U.S. U.S. authorities say they aim to prove that Naseer collected bombing ingredients, conducted reconnaissance, and was in frequent contact with other al-Qaida operatives as part of the international plot, previously tied to a foiled plan to detonate explosives aboard the New York City subway and a suspected plot to bomb a busy shopping area in the northern England city of Manchester.
February 02, 2011 -
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that creating a more flexible workplace is a \"strategic imperative\" for the Defense Department. He said the military must make the same adaptations that are being made in the private sector and in civilian agencies if it intends to hold onto its talent.
February 02, 2011 -
DoD employees gave more than $17 million to the Combined Federal Campaign in 2010, Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn said Monday.
February 01, 2011 -
From “U.S. Department of Defense Contract Spending and the Industrial Base” hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies: The Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group hosted a presentation of its annotated brief on Department of Defense…
February 01, 2011