Navy

  • The list of recommendations to change DoD's benefits system from the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission have been getting their first hearings on Capitol Hill over the last few weeks. That list details a new healthcare system and a hybrid retirement plan for the four out of five troops who don't serve at least 20 years. The panel's ideas haven't sparked an open revolt in Congress so far, but some outside groups are warning that some of the changes might do more harm than good. Retired Navy Vice Adm. Norb Ryan is president of the Military Officers Association of America. MOAA's doing its own analysis of the recommendations, and shared some ways they could hurt retention with Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu on In Depth with Francis Rose.

    March 02, 2015
  • Bloomberg Government analysts Robert levinson and Cameron Leuthy join host Roger Waldron to to talk about what's in the fiscal year 2016 defense budget. February 24, 2015

    February 24, 2015
  • Maria Roat, former FedRAMP director and current CTO at Transportation, sat down with the Women of Washington radio show to discuss her work on FedRAMP and the challenges she faced in its implementation.

    February 18, 2015
  • A task force assigned to take a holistic view of the Navy's cybersecurity posture catalogues security holes across the Navy enterprise, and concludes that plugging each one would cost an absurd amount of money.

    February 16, 2015
  • The Department of the Navy is taking a more corporate approach to meeting the ever-changing mission needs with technology, said Maura Sullivan, the Department of Navy's chief of strategy and innovation.

    February 13, 2015
  • The Navy is part-way through it's first-ever attempt to take an enterprise-wide approach to cybersecurity. There's good news and bad news so far: The service now has a robust accounting of all of its cyber vulnerabilities. But fixing all of them would cost more than the Navy can afford. More details from Federal News Radio's DoD Reporter Jared Serbu.

    February 13, 2015
  • The USS Kauffman is now the last of its breed. The 453-foot Navy ship is on a six-month deployment that marks the final mission for any Navy frigate. All the rest have been decommissioned. Kauffmann will follow suit when it returns from Central America in September. Rear Adm. Peter Fanta, the Navy's director of Surface Warfare, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to explain the rationale behind the decommissioning, the policy behind it and how the Navy intends to replace the frigates.

    February 13, 2015
  • The Navy and Marine Corps are investing millions of dollars in unmanned helicopters, jeeps and ships, which sound like they're right out of science fiction novels. The scientists and technologists were in full geek mode as they discussed the next generation vehicles and weapons at the recent Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo in Washington. Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller visited the expo and spoke with several of the people behind the new innovations.

    February 09, 2015
  • Federal agencies are wise to contractors that low-ball their contract prices just to get a deal. Some of those companies try to get around the low price by doing the work at normal price anyway, and getting the agency to reimburse them. Bill Welch is partner at McMahon, Welch and Learned. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he did a post-mortem on a recent Navy contract that shows the agency's catching on to this tactic.

    February 09, 2015
  • A Navy scientist won the 2014 NATO Science and Technology Organization's Scientific Achievement Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to aerospace science and technology or aerospace systems applications. The winner was Steve Anderson, a Principal Scientist with the Naval Surface Warfare Center. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to detail how he won.

    February 09, 2015
  • Right out of a science fiction novel, the Navy and Marine Corps are investing millions of dollars in unmanned helicopters, jeeps and boats. The scientists and technologists were in full geek mode as they discussed the next generation of vehicles and weapons at the recent Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo. Federal News Radio's executive editor Jason Miller visited the expo. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, he shared some of the descriptions the experts behind these technology innovations gave him.

    February 09, 2015
  • The Office of Naval Research has an update to its strategic plan and a new chief to help to put those priorities in place. Rear Adm. Mat Winter, the new chief of Naval Research, has been on the job for about four weeks. Federal News Radio's Lauren Larson spoke to the new ONR chief at the Naval Future Force Science and Technology expo. He tells her what ONR looks for when updating its strategic plan.

    February 04, 2015
  • The Navy has a powerful software system that dramatically reduces the time it takes to plan safe submarine missions. That same software recently made its way above the surface and was installed on the guided missile cruiser, USS Mobile Bay. Dr. Kip Krebs, program officer in the Office of Naval Research's Warfighter Performance Department, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the app's uses.

    January 30, 2015
  • The Littoral Combat Ship U.S.S. Fort Worth is in the Java Sea, helping with the effort to recover the remains of the Air Asia flight. The ship's work in that effort is generating a discussion about the future of the LCS program. Sydney Freedberg in Breaking Defense writes the mission "shows why the Navy needs something like LCS at all." Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Jerry Hendrix is senior fellow and director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program for the Center for a New American Security. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained if he thinks the LCS program has turned the corner and is headed toward respectability in Congress.

    January 14, 2015