WASHINGTON: The strategic guidance issued to much fanfare by President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last January is getting a “relook” because the senior leadership has “found some problems” with it, according to the Defense Department’s head of acquisition, Frank Kendall. What are the holes? As one might expect, Kendall didn’t outline them,…
By Colin ClarkMilitary innovation and savings: Go commercial
DoD uses FAR Part 12 acquisitions to save hundreds of millions of dollars in “of a type” systems like civil landing systems with applicability to military aircraft.
[updated 3:00 pm with Kendall comments] WASHINGTON: If history is any guide, the cuts to the defense budget will prompt a new wave of acquisition reform — and if history is any guide, we’ll get it wrong, again. Frank Kendall, the undersecretary for acquisitions, logistics, and technology, rolled out a “Better Buying Power” initiative in…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.NATIONAL PRESS CLUB: The ambitious arms export reforms proposed and largely prepared by the Obama administration may founder if the White House changes hands. The State, Commerce and Defense departments have completed “for all intents and purposes” the drafts of the major reforms after a week of all-day meetings. The administration has built a new…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: As hard as it is to figure out how to share cybersecurity information within the US — just look at Congress’s recent failure to legislate on the subject — it’s even harder to do internationally. “We’re all pulling together because we have to,” Maj. Gen. Mark Bowman, the US Army officer who is now…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: US foreign military sales are growing so fast the Pentagon can’t keep its PowerPoint slides updated — and they may well grow still more if a Defense Department policy easing exports of unmanned aircraft to 66 countries gets interagency and Congressional approval. When Defense Security Cooperation Agency staff put together a briefing for DSCA…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
