The Defense Department doesn’t do many things the way it did them in 1955. But the North American Air Defense, or NORAD, still makes sure children and the young at heart all over the world know exactly where Santa Claus is on Christmas Eve.

It’s been a rough week for the State Department. It began with an independent commission’s scathing report on security lapses in Libya, where four diplomats were killed in September. Then the agency’s security chief resigned and several others stepped down. And yesterday, it culminated with one senator accusing the agency of having “sclerosis” and another saying it had not seen the forest for the trees. But what is the solution to the agency’s security problems? And how much risk should we expect our diplomats to take?

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion took the unusual step of getting federal security clearance for its BlackBerry 10 smartphone before releasing it. That might have been a good move. Now it has a big taker: Immigration and Customs Enforcement will pilot the new BlackBerries early next year. There’s a lot at stake for the company in this new phone.

Regardless of whether sequestration happens or not, one thing is certain. The Pentagon still needs to buy millions of dollars worth of stuff. In the last couple of years, though, Congress and the administration have adjusted the ways the government goes about acquisition.