Defense Department
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Heather Wilson, the newly-confirmed Secretary of the Air Force, wants to know whether her service’s acquisition professionals are actually using legislative provisions meant to help the Pentagon speed up and simplify the acquisition process
June 07, 2017 -
The Navy’s 2018 budget request includes a billion more dollars and a thousand new employees to help the service dig out of an ongoing ship maintenance backlog. Trouble is, the Navy’s current training regimen for new depot maintenance workers takes about five years before they’re ready to work, and officials say they need to find ways to speed that process up.
June 06, 2017 -
James MacStravic, who's performing the duties of undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics plans to spend the next year driving DoD toward better performance in IT acquisition, including by reducing the number of departmentwide policies on the topic.
June 06, 2017 -
Navy's personnel IT budget rises by 77 percent in 2018 and is expected to more than double by 2020 to support a "transformation" of the personnel system dubbed Sailor 2025.
June 06, 2017 -
Presidents have used the overseas contingency operations fund to bolster the Defense Department budget outside of the Budget Control Act rules. But Congress should do better.
June 05, 2017 -
Acting Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology James MacStravic gave an inside look at what DoD is like under the new administration.
June 02, 2017 -
The Navy is testing a new evaluation system that it says will be more objective, deliver greater fidelity in measuring sailors' performance. The end goal is to use the scores to help inform servicemembers' compensation packages.
June 01, 2017 -
The Army chief of staff wants a new assessment of the $6 billion WIN-T program, hopefully in time to influence the 2018 Defense authorization bill. He worries the system is too vulnerable in real-world battle conditions and is based on outdated technology.
May 29, 2017 -
The Navy's 2018 budget doesn't even begin to build the 350-ship fleet officials say is needed. Instead, it prioritizes readiness over growth.
May 26, 2017 -
The Trump administration's Defense budget proposal envisions billions of dollars in savings from more oversight on IT, base closures, health care reforms and plane tickets.
May 24, 2017 -
Lawmakers are pushing key Defense Department nominees to begin considering how to put a comprehensive cyber policy in place.
May 18, 2017 -
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) laid the weight of DoD's first audit squarely on the shoulders of David Norquist, President Trump's pick for DoD comptroller. The department hasn't been audited in 17 years, and has spent the past seven engaged in audit-readiness preparations.
May 10, 2017 -
In today's Top Federal Headlines, two senior Republican lawmakers have called for reassurances from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that is not interfering with its employees’ communications with members of Congress.
May 05, 2017 -
The Defense Department's Strategic Capabilities Office has managed to successfully transition all six of the weapons systems it's developed into programs of record that are now controlled by the military services. The secret to its success, according to the SCO's director, is its insistence on prototyping.
May 05, 2017 -
New Defense guidance says the blanket hiring freeze is now over. But it includes several caveats in line with the goal of reorganizing and reducing the size of the federal workforce.
May 03, 2017