As most military agencies fail annual audit, comptroller claims ‘steady progress’

As most military agencies fail annual audit, comptroller claims ‘steady progress’
As most military agencies fail annual audit, comptroller claims ‘steady progress’

A goal of a 2027 clean audit across the military seems far off, as most departments, including major branches, still have work to do.

Reform, Ohio Replacement Fund; Top Changes In NDAA

Reform, Ohio Replacement Fund; Top Changes In NDAA
Reform, Ohio Replacement Fund; Top Changes In NDAA

With the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act completed and headed to the president’s desk likely sometime next week, it’s useful to summarize the biggest policy changes therein. While most Republicans do not take the veto threat seriously, Mr. Obama will surely do just that. Still, when this bill eventually receives his signature later this year…

A ‘Measured Approach’ To Managing Military Officers

A ‘Measured Approach’ To Managing Military Officers
A ‘Measured Approach’ To Managing Military Officers

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is calling for significant change to the laws and policies that govern all military personnel management. This “Force of the Future” initiative may mean far-reaching changes in how military personnel are recruited, evaluated, assigned, promoted, retained, separated and compensated. Designing new personnel systems is like painting landscapes of mountains: they may provide great…

HASC Moves Ahead On Military Compensation Reform

HASC Moves Ahead On Military Compensation Reform
HASC Moves Ahead On Military Compensation Reform

CAPITOL HILL: By an overwhelming vote of 55 to eight, the House Armed Services Committee decided tonight to stay the course and reform the military compensation system. In doing so, HASC firmly grasped the third rail of the Pentagon budget. Personnel costs for pay, healthcare, and retirement have grown rapidly, even unsustainably, as a share…

Thornberry Worried By Uniforms Leaving Military

Thornberry Worried By Uniforms Leaving Military
Thornberry Worried By Uniforms Leaving Military

WASHINGTON: The new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee sounded pretty sympathetic today to the Navy’s plan for a separate budget line to fund a new generation of nuclear missile submarines. But Rep. Mac Thornberry, known for his close attention to detail, also said he understood it was very important to use the right…

Congress Must Scrap Generous DoD Benefits For Future Forces: Rep. Hunter

Congress Must Scrap Generous DoD Benefits For Future Forces: Rep. Hunter
Congress Must Scrap Generous DoD Benefits For Future Forces: Rep. Hunter

WASHINGTON: Career soldiers can retire at 42, get a great deal on Tricare health insurance, take home a pension, and get paid a good private-sector salary on top of that. That can’t continue to be the norm for the military and Congress must create a two-tier pay system, says Rep. Duncan Hunter, Marine Corps reservist…

America’s Two Promises To Troops: A ‘Stark Choice’ Between Weapons And Benefits

America likes the idea that we have made a solemn promise to generously compensate our military service members. After all, the argument goes, how can we ever fully repay them for risking their lives for us? Providing  benefits like low-cost premium health care, comfortable pensions, housing allowances, grocery discounts, tuition assistance, tax breaks and much…

Congress, SecDef MUST Lead Pentagon From The Vale Of Seven Sins: CNAS

Congress, SecDef MUST Lead Pentagon From The Vale Of Seven Sins: CNAS
Congress, SecDef MUST Lead Pentagon From The Vale Of Seven Sins: CNAS

  WASHINGTON: Some of Chuck Hagel’s best friends in the defense world offered him a compelling report on how to save almost as much as the $500 billion that the Budget Control Act will force him and his successors to cut over the next decade. The wonderful title of the report, “The Seven Deadly Sins…

Senate Appropriators Grill SecDef About Cyber, Pakistan, And, Yes, Sequestration

CAPITOL HILL: Apologizing to Pakistan, the economic impact of sequestration, and the possibility of a cyber-war “Pearl Harbor” dominated today’s hearing of the defense panel of the all-powerful Senate Appropriations committee. Sen. Dianne Feinstein — who also chairs the intelligence committee — asks Defense Secretary Leon Panetta why we couldn’t just apologize to Pakistan for…