Hagel Seeks BRAC Cooperation
Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.
DefSec Chuck Hagel believes the DoD needs a stronger partnership with Congress to achieve critical priorities including another round of BRAC base closures, reports FederalTimes. Mr. Hagel said the Pentagon won’t be able to close the bases it needs to or discontinue ship or plane programs without a strong relationship with lawmakers. The department saves more than $12 billion a year from the five BRAC rounds announced between 1988 and 2005 and wants to save more in a future consolidation. The DoD requested a round of base closures for 2017 earlier this year but met with stiff Congressional resistance.
Vice Adm. Ted Branch, director of naval intelligence, has not been able to view classified information for an entire year, reports Navy Times. His security clearance was suspended in November 2013 after a misconduct investigation but no charges have been filed, leaving the Navy in an uncomfortable position. If classified information is discussed at a meeting, Vice Adm. Branch must leave the room, and he can’t attend morning intelligence briefs or sit with other services’ intel chiefs when they meet.
A survey of federal IT managers in both the civilian and defense sectors showed a shift in cybersecurity concerns from outside actors to insider threats and a focus on the need to educate employees, reports FederalTimes.
The Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons (PEO (U&W)) welcomed a new admiral during a change of ceremony held last week at NAS: Pax River, reports NAVAIR News. RADM Mark Darrah, who has more than 30 years of aviation and acquisition experience, relieved Rear Adm. Mat Winter. RADM Darrah will support the naval unmanned aviation inventory, along with all precision and strike weapons.
The Navy is working on a “task force cyber awakening,” a sweeping effort to understand the fleet’s vulnerabilities as systems become digitized and the military grows increasingly dependent on the internet, according to NationalDefense. The task force is supposed to provide recommendations in the coming months on how the Navy should organize and equip itself to fight in cyberspace. The group’s proposal could shape future hiring, force training and the procurement of weapon systems.
Systems to enable the F-35 JSF fighter to wage electronic war are on hold until Congress passes a full defense-spending bill, reports DefenseNews. Analysts say late November is the earliest time frame for lawmakers to pass a government-wide spending bill that is expected to include a 2015 military appropriations bill. Until then, the F-35 program office will halt new work on “many of the unique weapons that our partners want.”
A record number of female veterans are running for Congress this year, according to The Hill. Only five female military veterans have ever served in Congress and now 11 other female military veterans are attempting to join them.
Almost 60,000 veterans were triple dippers last year, legally drawing a total of $3.5 billion in military retirement pay plus veterans and Social Security disability benefits at the same time, reports the AP. The average payment was about $59,000, but about 2,300 veterans received concurrent payments of $100,000 or more with the highest payment to a vet who received $208,757 in combined payments in 2013.
DefenseSystems provides a video showing robotic systems that can go into areas where it’s too dangerous for soldiers to work. This includes small, rugged vehicles that can search for mines or other explosives, and UAVs that provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Researchers are also working on even smaller, insect-sized systems.
Some service members are complaining about a sexual-assault survey that hundreds of thousands have been asked to complete, reports the AP. The survey is conducted every two years but this year’s version is unusually detailed, including graphically personal questions on sexual acts. Pentagon officials confirmed receiving complaints that the questions were “intrusive” and “invasive.”
The DoD is looking for ways to use unmanned aerial systems to detect chemical and biological weapons, and to find technologies to defend against UAS carrying those type of weapons, according to DefenseSystems. An RFI was recently issued for designs in small to mid-size unmanned aircraft that can detect chemical or biological agents, and emerging technologies that could counter small, inexpensive UAVs carrying a chemical or biological weapon of mass destruction.
