Defense Department
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Given enough attention and commitment from the Pentagon’s top leadership, the next administration ought to be able to implement enough business reforms to wring billions of dollars a year out of the Defense Department’s budget, said Robert Hale, who managed DoD’s finances for five years from 2009-2014.
December 15, 2016 -
For the past three years, the Defense Intelligence Agency has been experimenting with a rapid technology acquisition project called “Needipedia,” in which it publishes the technology gaps it wants to fill, lets industry respond with short white papers, then buys new capabilities in as little as a month.
December 14, 2016 -
The annual Defense authorization bill Congress sent to the President last week includes several provisions to redraw the Defense Department's organizational chart, including one that creates a powerful new Chief Management Officer whose primary job will be overseeing and reforming DoD headquarters functions.
December 12, 2016 -
The annual Defense authorization bill Congress sent to President Obama’s desk on Thursday will dramatically increase the role of the Pentagon’s youngest combat support agency.
December 09, 2016 -
The Pentagon said Wednesday that it expects to permanently stop collection procedures for the vast majority of National Guard soldiers who, according to various audits, got bonuses they weren’t technically entitled to between 2004 and 2011.
December 08, 2016 -
When Rear Adm. Matt Winter, outgoing Chief of Naval Research, looks back on his career at the Office of Naval Research, the thing he is most proud of isn’t a new technology or capability. It’s…
December 07, 2016 -
This photo gallery commemorates the 74th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
December 07, 2016 -
The Defense Department has taken a lot of heat in recent years from industry critics who charge its procurement officials have been putting too much weight on low prices and not enough on quality.
December 06, 2016 -
Advocates and defenders of the federal bid protest process received some welcome news last week as part of the House-Senate agreement on this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. The final deal stripped two key Senate provisions that were seen as hostile to the protest process.
December 05, 2016 -
Besides restructuring and bifurcating the large front office that’s currently responsible for both acquisition and R&D, the bill adds several new authorities that build on last year’s trend of letting DoD sidestep the traditional acquisition system.
December 05, 2016 -
The expected nomination of retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to become secretary of defense depends on a one-time change to federal statutes that require military officers to have been retired for at least seven years before becoming the civilian leader of the Pentagon.
December 05, 2016 -
The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental thinks it’s learned a thing or two about rapid acquisition over the year since its initial standup, and sees no good reason why the rest of the Defense Department can’t use the same techniques it’s put in place to award new contracts in 60 days or less.
December 02, 2016 -
The Defense Department’s top personnel official said Tuesday that the Pentagon used a flawed process when it decided to bar the nation’s largest for-profit college from military tuition assistance funds last year, and is drawing up new rules meant to be fairer to colleges while also ferreting out deceptive marketing processes.
November 30, 2016 -
House Armed Services Committee Military Personnel Subcommittee Chairman Joe Heck confirms a 2.1 percent pay raise for troops.
November 29, 2016 -
The Defense Department has cited lower health care costs as one of the benefits of the $58 billion in contract awards it issued in July to manage its TRICARE health care system. But in at least one of the two contracts, price wasn’t the driving factor.
November 28, 2016