Defense Department
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The Pentagon has been warning for years that the decade-long budget caps Congress set in place four years ago won't work -- at least if DoD hopes to execute the defense strategy that's on the books right now. With sequestration set to return this year, officials say they'll try to make things a bit less abstract. The Pentagon publishes a report that details exactly what would happen to individual bases and weapons systems with a $30 billion cut. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu writes about DoD's sequestration messaging strategy as part of this week's edition of Inside the Reporter's Notebook.
February 20, 2015 -
The Defense Department will shut off its widely-used Defense Connect Online service in June, and is telling all of its users to transition to a new DISA-provided service before then. But the vendor behind DCO thinks users are hooked, and will continue to provide it for a fee.
February 20, 2015 -
The federal CIO Council's mobile technology tiger team is climbing a Defense Department tree. It's recommending the DoD standard for vetting mobile application security. The team's goal is to make it easier and safer for agencies to develop and deploy mission-critical apps. Federal News Radio's executive editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss those recommendations, and why app vetting is the next great challenge in the mobile computing.
February 19, 2015 -
Students at three military academies reported fewer sexual assaults during the last school year. An anonymous Pentagon survey backs that up. It shows rates of "unwanted sexual contact" are also declining. While the military struggled last year with sexual assault cases, it seems there's progress on the academic front. Dr. Nate Galbreath, Senior Executive Advisor in DoD's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to explain what all this might mean for the military itself.
February 19, 2015 -
An independent report cites a "fee-for-service" model as a main driver in DoD's rising medical costs, and urges the department to value outcomes over volume in upcoming TRICARE procurement.
February 19, 2015 -
The Defense Department's National Information Assurance Partnership's (NIAP) protection profile will be the governmentwide standard for agencies to use when ensuring the security of mobile apps. The Mobile Technology Tiger Team recommended the NIAP approach because of the collaboration and coordination across government and with industry.
February 19, 2015 -
By one measure, the Defense Department's health care bill is triple what it was 15 years ago. By another, medical costs make up 10 percent of the military's budget, compared to 6 percent in 2000. A new report from the Center for a New American Security says the department has to get health spending under control, and offers two main prescriptions. Peter Levin is an adjunct fellow at the center, and also a former chief technology officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In an interview with Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu, he says it's true that the nation's overall health care costs have been rising, but DoD seems to be last in line to address the problem.
February 18, 2015 -
Sequestration is still the law of the land, and the spending cap that the government has to work under is about $498 billion for the defense budget. But more and more members of Congress say that's not enough for the Pentagon. Dov Zakheim is senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Bob Hale is a fellow at Booz Allen Hamilton. Both have served as Undersecretary of Defense Comptroller. On In Depth with Francis Rose, they talked about the possibilities for an agreement on the defense budget.
February 18, 2015 -
Over five years, Air Force has beat the independent cost estimates in its acquisition programs by a collective $2 billion, according to the service's assistant secretary for acquisition. Some of the savings have been returned to the Air Force's top line, but acquisition managers have been allowed to plow some of the money back into their own programs.
February 18, 2015 -
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressing Pentagon demands in a time of terror threats and Islamic State militants have put newly empowered congressional Republicans in a bind. Defense hawks want to wipe…
February 18, 2015 -
Dr. Jack Midgely, director with Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting in Tokyo, discusses defense priorities and security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. February 17, 2015
February 17, 2015 -
The Air Force is celebrating $2 billion of savings. The concept of "should cost" management was a key component of the first version of DoD's Better Buying Power program when it was first rolled out almost five years ago. But the Air Force's acquisition chief says the concept of "should-cost" has helped his department cut program costs by about $2 billion over the last several years. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu has the story.
February 17, 2015 -
Air Force works to manage on-base utility costs through advanced metering initiative and privatization of aging infrastructure.
February 17, 2015 -
Two former DoD comptrollers say a two-year defense budget deal could achieve President Barack Obama's goal of eliminating sequestration.
February 17, 2015 -
President Barack Obama has petitioned Congress for new authority to conduct military force against Islamic State militants. He's asking for a three-year authorization to fight them, or their successors, without regard for international borders. Nora Bensahel, a national defense expert and distinguished scholar-in-residence at American University, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to further analyze the President's request.
February 17, 2015