Department of Defense

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Gates: Obama's Most Effective Secretary
Gates: Obama's Most Effective Secretary
Analysis
May 15, 2009 8:28 AM CDT

Gates: Obama's Most Effective Secretary

Republican holdover provides political cover on tough calls

(Newser) - Keeping Robert Gates as secretary of defense is starting to look like Barack Obama’s shrewdest personnel move, argues Gerald Seib in the Wall Street Journal. As someone appointed by the last two Republican presidents, Gates “brought to the table a credibility that no Obama appointee would have had,...

Don't Let 'Waste' Taunts Prompt More Waste
Don't Let 'Waste' Taunts Prompt More Waste
OPINION
May 14, 2009 9:01 AM CDT

Don't Let 'Waste' Taunts Prompt More Waste

Obama shouldn't scrap chopper deal just to appease McCain

(Newser) - Fearful of appearing wasteful, the Defense Department wants to dump a contract for new presidential helicopters and start fresh—but that means losing $4 billion already spent on the project. It’s the same old story when it comes to “wasteful procurement,” writes Gail Collins in the New ...

White House Aide Quits in Flyover; Gates Sorry

(Newser) - Robert Gates has apologized for the Air Force One photo op debacle over New York last week, the Los Angeles Times reports. “We deeply regret the anxiety and alarm that resulted from this mission,” the defense secretary wrote in a letter posted on the website of John McCain,...

Pentagon to Add 20K Jobs in Arms-Buying Overhaul

Obama says acquisitions program has 'run amok'

(Newser) - The Defense Department will add 20,000 jobs over the next 5 years in an overhaul of its $100 billion weapons-buying process, Reuters reports. New regulations will tie compensation more closely to performance, and the Pentagon will require “real, substantial” tax savings in any multiyear deals, a deputy defense...

Accidents, Illness Kill Most Troops in Iraq

"Nonhostile" incidents pose greatest threat in recent months

(Newser) - Troops serving in Iraq in the past eight months were most likely to die from "nonhostile" causes such as illness or accidents, according to new statistics. The period marks the first time insurgents have not been responsible for the majority of troops deaths, reports the Boston Globe. While the...

Gitmo Inmates May Land on Mainland: Gates

(Newser) - The fate of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay remains unclear, but Robert Gates hinted at one possibility during a Senate hearing today, reports the New York Times: Inmates who aren’t tried, repatriated, or sent to other countries could wind up in the US. Of the 250 “enemy combatants” in...

Gates Pressure Speeds New Armor to Afghan Soldiers

(Newser) - With a little push from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Army says it has completed its assessment of $3 million worth of high-tech, lightweight body armor and will send it immediately to soldiers in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. The Army was dragging out testing on the new armor,...

Pentagon Will Fill Civilian Jobs in Afghanistan

Reservists to fill up to 300 positions intended for nonmilitary experts

(Newser) - The Obama administration is being forced to fill hundreds of new positions designed for civilian experts in Afghanistan with military personnel, mostly reservists, reports the New York Times. The shortfall results from insufficient funds to hire and train nonmilitary people for work in combat zones, and the fact that agencies...

Pentagon to Create New Cyber Command

Four-star general will lead efforts to fight digital attacks

(Newser) - The Obama administration is about to create a new military command to bolster American offensive powers in cyberwarfare and to coordinate defenses against digital attacks, reports the Wall Street Journal. A four-star general will lead the new command, which will have responsibility for protecting the country from attacks by hackers,...

Cyberspies Steal Pentagon's Jet-Fighter Plans

Hackers, possibly Chinese, download specs for Joint Strike Fighter

(Newser) - Cyberspies believed to be working from China repeatedly penetrated the computers of one of the Pentagon's most important weapons programs, reports the Wall Street Journal. Hackers broke into the system for the Joint Strike Fighter Project—the Defense Department's most expensive program ever at $300 billion—and downloaded several terabytes...

Gas-Guzzling Pentagon Turns to Green Energy

Fuel is costing the military in money and lives

(Newser) - The nation's biggest gas guzzler, the Defense Department, is trying to kick its oil habit and use alternative energies—not to support the green movement or save money, but to save lives, the Washington Post reports. Half of US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are from IEDs deployed on fuel-carrying...

Contractors Targeted in Pentagon Cuts

Gates aims to have procurement staff employed directly by Pentagon

(Newser) - The Pentagon's new budget proposal cuts the role of private contractors by a third—back to pre-9/11 levels—the Washington Post reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to replace tens of thousands of contracted workers with people employed directly by the Pentagon, especially among the vast workforce tasked with buying...

Gates Axes F-22 in Pentagon Budget Overhaul

Defense sec cuts deep, readies dep't for this century's wars

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates today recommended halting production of the F-22 fighter jet and scrapping a new helicopter for the president as he outlined deep cuts to many of the military's biggest weapons programs. Gates said his $534 billion budget proposal represents a "fundamental overhaul" in defense acquisition...

IED Casualties in Afghanistan Soaring

75% of coalition deaths result from roadside explosives

(Newser) - Improvised roadside bombs caused 75% of all casualties among coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first two months of this year, up from 50% two years ago, reports USA Today. The rate of casualties from IEDs is also higher than at any time in Iraq, calling for urgent pleas for...

Gates Stakes His Claim Under a New President
Gates Stakes His Claim Under a New President
ANALYSIS
Mar 31, 2009 7:40 AM CDT

Gates Stakes His Claim Under a New President

Defense secretary earns Obama's trust on Afghanistan-Pakistan

(Newser) - In 2008, under another president, Robert Gates spent 115 days traveling to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and 23 other countries. But this year, writes the New York Times, the defense secretary has been spending much more time in Washington. Gates, the only holdover from the Bush Cabinet, has slowly secured a...

'Wait Until She's Sober': Pentagon Rep on Sex Crimes

(Newser) - A House member is incensed that a Pentagon official, reporting a 25% increase in combat-zone sexual assault against women, said servicemen should “wait until she's sober,” the New York Daily News reports. “This woman is not in the right line of work,” Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-NY,...

Pentagon Lifts Coffin Media Ban
 Pentagon Lifts Coffin Media Ban 
Feb 26, 2009 1:39 PM CST

Pentagon Lifts Coffin Media Ban

(Newser) - The Pentagon has lifted the media ban at Dover (Del.) Air Force Base and will allow photos of the coffins of US war casualties returning from overseas—provided the service members' families approve. Under the new rules, the families can withhold permission, CNN reports. Some relatives had lobbied against...

Gitmo Meets Geneva Rules: Pentagon Report

Study urges changes in rules for 'most troublesome' detainees

(Newser) - A Pentagon report conducted for President Obama asserts that Gitmo treats its prisoners humanely and in accordance with the Geneva Convention, reports the Los Angeles Times. The report does, however, call for some reforms, such as giving the most dangerous inmates more contact with other prisoners and opportunities for prayer....

Roomba Maker Actually a Big-Time Defense Contractor

(Newser) - It’s common knowledge that the Defense Department is the progenitor of modern conveniences like the Internet. But would you, for a minute, think it has a $286 million contract with the company that makes your Roomba automated vacuum? That fact surprised Owen Thomas, who writes about it on Valleywag,...

Pentagon Wants 'Virtual Parents' for Military Kids

Program would sub artificial intelligence for moms, dads overseas

(Newser) - The US Department of Defense hopes to ward off trauma for children with deployed parents by replacing mommy or daddy with a computerized replica, Melissa Lafsky writes for Discover. The proposal, pitched on DoD’s “Small Business Innovation Web” site, describes a “highly interactive PC- or Web-based application...

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