Defense Department
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Shay Assad, the director of Defense pricing, said the Defense Contract Management Agency will open an additional five centers of excellence over the next few months to help military services and agencies make better decisions when buying commercial items. Assad said DoD also needs to move to value-based pricing.
June 10, 2015 -
Brad Carson, DoD\'s new acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness has until August to deliver recommendations on how to revamp the military personnel system. But in public comments Tuesday, he suggested a major shakeup is in order.
June 10, 2015 -
The Defense Department\'s new personnel chief says the entire military personnel system is in \"urgent\" need of reform. And since there\'s only 18 months left before a new administration comes into office, he intends to get to work quickly to overhaul a talent management infrastructure that\'s 50-years old and has failed to keep pace with the private sector. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu has more on his plans.
June 09, 2015 -
The Defense Authorization Act is the main piece of business for the Senate this week. The House will debate its version of the appropriations bill for defense spending. Those two bills have a big difference in their top-line numbers. David Hawkings, senior editor at Roll Call, writes the Hawkings Here blog. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose how much the Overseas Contingency Operation is at play.
June 08, 2015 -
Half of the Defense Department\'s components are tracing the normal network activity of their personnel. The Pentagon is supposed to look at common user behavior to help it find cases where its employees might leak classified information. It\'s part of a series of executive orders from President Barack Obama that require agencies set up their own insider-threat programs. Joe Kirschbaum, director of defense capabilities and management issues at the Government Accountability Office, tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the Pentagon\'s progress on its insider threat program.
June 08, 2015 -
Secretary of the Army John McHugh notified President Barack Obama that he planned to step down no later than Nov. 1.
June 08, 2015 -
More than 70 years have passed since the attack on Pearl Harbor, where more than 2,000 sailors and Marines lost their lives. Only 35 were properly identified; the rest were buried as unknowns. But the military wants to change that, and recently announced it plans to exhume and attempt to identify the rest. Dr. Deborah Prince Zinni is a forensic anthropologist and laboratory manager at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, she tells Federal News Radio\'s Lauren Larson why they launched the recovery efforts now.
June 05, 2015 -
In the Defense budget debate, $38 billion is on the line. It could end up in the Overseas Contingency Operations budget, or it could end up in the base budget, and it could get cut. If the money stays, one place or another, most of it would go to operations and maintenance programs. Cameron Leuthy, a senior budget analyst with Bloomberg Government, tells In Depth with Francis Rose who could win big in the budget stakes.
June 04, 2015 -
Commentary: No metric can really capture the essence of any object or program, or the people\'s dedication to it, says Federal Drive host Tom Temin.
June 04, 2015 -
The F-35 fighter jet takes part in a major military exercise this week, and the Defense Department wants to buy about 450 F-35s in three years -- starting in 2018. DOD says it sees some progress with the program. Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition Frank Kendall says the program is performing better and costs will stay down. Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at the Teal Group, tells In Depth with Francis Rose where the program stands now, and whether confidence from DOD is improving.
June 03, 2015 -
The problem of research laboratories mistakenly receiving shipments with live samples of Anthrax is much worse than the Pentagon first thought. Dozens of labs in the U.S. and three other countries are suspected of having received the vials - and defense officials say that number is likely to grow in the coming days. More from Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu.
June 03, 2015 -
The administration criticized the House appropriations framework that would implement sequestration funding levels for non-Defense agencies, while using Overseas Contingency Operations funds to pay for base Defense spending.
June 02, 2015 -
The Partnership for Public Service has announced the 33 finalists for this year\'s Service to America Medals (SAMMIES). Among them is Charles Milam, the principal director for military community and family policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He\'s credited with improving the lives of millions of service members, by instituting programs that help the deployed stay in touch with loved ones. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to review the programs he helped create, and the ones his department oversees.
June 02, 2015 -
The Joint Chiefs of Staff added their own recommendations on military retirement reform and sent them to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Most of their recommendations are similar to proposals in both the House and Senate National Defense Authorization Acts. But the recommendations from the chiefs may throw a wrinkle into the congressional debate. Todd Harrison, a senior fellow for defense studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, tells In Depth with Francis Rose what the Joint Chiefs are proposing.
June 01, 2015 -
In this week's Inside the DoD Reporter's Notebook, Jared Serbu reports language explicitly barring another BRAC round appeared last week in the House readiness subcommittee's contribution to the annual Defense authorization bill.
April 27, 2015