Jared Serbu covers the Department of Defense for Federal News Radio. Jared's reports can be heard Monday - Friday on the Federal Drive and In Depth.

Navy breaks ground on second-largest federal solar project

The Navy has signed a deal to start funneling green energy to its largest base. Instead of costing money, the project will save money, Navy and industry officials say.

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Bill takes federal plain language requirements a step further

Agencies already are under the gun to put their public communications into plain language. A congressman behind the original effort now wants to get rid of government jargon in federal regulations.

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DISA pushes efficiency, security virtues of DoD private cloud

DoD dollars are coming down, and cyber threats are rising. The Defense Information Systems Agency says the enterprise services it's trying to build for the entire military are one answer to both problems.

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Air Force reducing energy consumption in the air, on bases

The Air Force is hungry for energy like no agency in the federal government. The service's top energy official says they're trying to have a smaller appetite without hindering their mission.

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DoD budget guidance aims for leaner, more agile military

The President and the Pentagon gave the rough outlines Thursday for how they plan to create a lean, but still effective military. Ground forces will shrink, capabilities in cyber, ISR, technology will grow.

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DoD approves first-ever Android devices

The Defense Information Systems Agency has granted approval for Android-based mobile devices to connect to DoD networks, provided they're secured using a specific set of guidelines

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Behind Goldwater-Nichols with author Jim Locher

In this edition of On DoD, we take a look back at one of the key events that made the military we have today what it is. 2011 was the 25th anniversary of the Goldwater-Nichols act. We marked the anniversary on Federal News Radio with a special series on how the major Defense reorganization made its way through Congress, and how lawmakers dragged the Pentagon, largely against its will, into a culture of jointness.

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Pentagon adds one more chair in Joint Chiefs' 'Tank'

As the result of a successful effort to add the chairman of the National Guard Bureau to the membership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Craig R. McKinley, the Guard's top officer, becomes the seventh member on the panel.

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Army's new PEO-EIS wants to engage with industry sooner

The Army's newly-appointed program executive officer for enterprise information systems wants shorter RFPs but more industry engagement and an holistic view of program capabilities

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Army works to build and maintain intel capabilities in cloud

The Army says it's learned a lot about how to put intelligence capabilities directly into the hands of soldiers. The next challenge is to maintain the momentum for development of those capabilities once troops are out of combat.

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PTO ends one fast-track approval program, extends another

As it prepares to implement the changes enacted by a sweeping patent reform bill, the Patent and Trademark Office is ending one of the temporary fast-track programs it created to clear out its backlog of patent applications. Another is being extended.

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Federal buildings, old and new, go green

Treasury's building, DoD's Mark Center both get LEED Gold certification. Treasury expects to save $3.5 million by improving how the structures uses energy. DoD expects its new building to use 45 percent less water.

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DoD to revamp investment review boards

Congress is telling the Defense Department to take a new look at the way it makes decisions about buying big business systems. DoD's deputy chief management officer will take the lead in this effort.

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Congress tries to put brakes on DoD's Mark Center move

Massive spending bill includes provisions that would cap parking at the controversial office site until DoD implements traffic mitigation measures recommended by the department's inspector general.

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Army leadership applies pressure on data center consolidation

The Army's senior leaders want the service to beat its 2015 target to cut down the number of data centers it uses.

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Army's Network Integration Evaluation puts ideas into soldiers' hands

Col. John Morrison is director of the Army's LandWarNet Battle Command, the office that's in charge of integrating Army capabilities at the NIE.

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Treasury, HHS, Justice find more areas to cut waste

Cutting back on excess dollar-coins, tackling Medicare prescription drug abuse and prosecuting procurement fraud are just some of the ways the White House says agencies cut back on government waste in 2011.

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Congress throws up roadblock to Army enterprise email

House and Senate negotiators who hammered out an agreement for the 2012 defense authorization bill added language that puts the brakes on the Army's transition to an enterprise email effort. The language adds several requirements the Army and DoD must meet before moving forward with the project.

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Air Force doubling down on IT efficiencies

The Air Force, already facing a $1.2 billion budget cut from its IT portfolio, is looking at how to cut another billion. The service is looking to application rationalization and other efficiencies to meet its targets.

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Part 2: DoD finds clear benefits in aftermath of Goldwater-Nichols

After the passage of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act, the Pentagon stopped fighting the Congressional push for the military services to come together. Instead, it innovated joint operations beyond the wildest hopes of reformers in Congress. Can that model be exported to the rest of the federal government?

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