Tag Archives: DoD

Contractors React to News of NSA Leaker

Marjorie Censer (@commoncenser), Washington Post. As we mentioned in last week’s Scout Report, the news that a Booz Allen Hamilton contractor was the source of the leak from the National Security Agency didn’t bode well for the opinion of the contractor work force within DoD and the intelligence community. This week didn’t go quite as badly as we had expected but the claws came out about the size of the contractor work force and the costs associated with their work. Marjorie Censer wraps up some of the opinions from the past week ranging from SecDef Hagel calling for a review of…

Pentagon Approves Use of Advanced Devices from Apple and Others – but Don’t Expect Quick Change

Chris Carroll (@ChrisCarroll_), Stars and Stripes. On Friday the Defense Information Systems Agency announced the long rumored approval of the Security Technical Implementation Guide, or STIG, for Apple iOS6 devices to be used on the Defense Department’s networks. This move effectively clears the department’s various entities to purchase products like iPhones and iPads officially for the first time joining previously approved Samsung Android devices. While there is some excitement among Apple diehards, Carroll points out that it won’t be an overnight change by any means. BlackBerry clearly owns the government market…

Details Leak on DoD’s Budget Reprogramming

Paul McLeary (@paulmcleary), Zachary Fryer-Biggs and Aaron Mehta (@AaronMehta), Defense News. The Department of Defense is ready to submit a budget-reprogramming request to cover the costs of the estimated $28 billion in equipment that will need to be moved out of Afghanistan in the next year and a half. It faces a dwindling overseas contingency operations budget as well as cutbacks in operations and maintenance funds already. Defense News is reporting that in a draft document leaked Friday, the Army wants $1.34 billion more in O&M funding to make up for “increased fuel costs and increased use of multi-modal transportation methods…

Economy Grew at 2.5 Percent in 1^st Quarter, Amping Fears of a Stalled Recovery

Ylan Q. Mui (@ylanmui) and Marjorie Censer (@CommonCenser), Washington Post. The sequester cuts haven’t really settled in yet, most federal employee furloughs are only just starting, yet the 1^st quarter economic data is already showing a slowed growth from expectations. Gross domestic product grew at annual rate of 2.5% for the first three months of the year thanks to an 11.5% annualized drop in military spending. This makes it two quarters in a row of massive defense cuts and represents the steepest declines in military spending since the Korean War. Things simply won’t…

2014 DoD Budget a Step Toward ‘Grand Bargain’

John T. Bennett (@BennettJohnT), Defense News. The Obama Administration issued its 2014 budget last week including a $526.6 billion request for the Pentagon that ignores sequestration and mandatory limits set by Congress. There is a lot of slicing and dicing of the various numbers this week but the general consensus is that the request is really a political move to build the foundation for a hoped for “grand bargain” fiscal deal with the House Republicans. Within the budget is a call for another round of base closings and full funding for the F-35 but most see it as an…