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.

Intel CIOs finding common ground in shared services

Chief information officers in the intelligence community said despite cultural challenges, it makes sense to treat the IC as one IT enterprise. They owe an implementation plan to IC agency heads by the end of this year.

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DoD almost ready to hand out $30M in clean energy grants

The Pentagon will soon announce winners of its latest round of grant funding to try out new energy technologies at its U.S. bases. The response from industry and other government agencies has been overwhelming, officials said.

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Intelligence agencies to squeeze savings from IT, contractors

After a decade of uninterrupted spending growth, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has submitted budget cutting plans for intelligence agencies to the White House. The intelligence community will try to save money mostly through IT efficiencies, and will try to protect its civilian workforce while drawing down on its reliance upon contractors.

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Navy takes lifecycle view of energy costs in acquisitions

The Navy is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to find alternatives to fossil fuels. A parallel effort aims to engrain energy efficiency into the way the service buys the ships and planes it will own for the next few decades.

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Panetta wants full accounting of money in, money out by 2014

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants the department to have at least part of its books ready for audit well in advance of the Congressionally-mandated 2017 deadline. The edict could prove challenging for some components of DoD.

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Ground forces shouldn't bear brunt of DoD cuts, Army leaders argue

In the face of suggestions that the military of the future will rely more on air and sea power than ground forces, Army leaders say such arguments were wrong in the past and are wrong now.

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Amin drafts apology to foreign service officers at State

Kirit Amin, the departing chief information officer at the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs offers a "compete and sincere" apology to foreign service officers, who he derided in an interview this week with Federal News Radio. Amin says it is unfortunate that he shared private feelings in a public forum.

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NSA kicks in scholarship funds to boost cyber challenge

The National Security Agency will contribute the prize money for Maryland's first cyber competition. The agency says it wants to raise interest in cyber education and help ensure its future workforce.

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Lynn: DoD must cut budget, but without mistakes of the past

With cuts of at least $450 billion in DoD's future, the Pentagon's outgoing deputy secretary says the military will have to do fewer things, and probably with fewer people.

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Coast Guard, GAO at odds over health of acquisition programs

The Government Accountability Office found the Coast Guard cannot meet its most recent acquisition objectives to recapitalize its aging boats and airplanes. The audit agency told Congress Tuesday the service hasn't properly aligned its ambitions with its expected budgets. The Coast Guard contends the GAO findings are out of date.

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Leadership changes in DoD IT, logistics, cyber

Eric Rosenbach is named as the new leader for cyber policy and Tony Montemarano takes on a new role at DISA.

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Navy issues draft RFP for next-generation network

The Navy has released its draft solicitation for its huge Next Generation Enterprise Network project, which replaces the current Navy-Marine Corps Intranet and could end up being the largest private IT network in the world. The draft RFP is the last step — and the last opportunity for industry to comment — before Navy issues a final RFP.

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DIA marks 50 years of change, amid new 'golden age'

The Defense Intelligence Agency is now 50 years old, but its current and former leaders say the last 10 have come to define it as an agency.

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As BTA closes Friday, DoD continues to foster strategic goals

The Defense Department's new strategic management plan includes changes to the department's previous business goals, as well as new areas DoD plans to focus on in the coming year.

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At Pentagon, lessons learned on data center consolidation

Like every agency, the Defense Department has to help the government reduce its IT footprint. But unlike most agencies, it has more than a decade of data center consolidation experience to lean on. Space dedicated to servers in the Pentagon has come down from 45,000 to 15,000 square feet over the past 15 years, officials said.

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Geospatial intelligence HQ is now DC's 3rd largest federal office building

The National Geospatial Agency formally opened its headquarters Monday. Its $1.7 billion facility is the third largest in the national capital region.

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VA needs to tighten oversight of G.I. Bill

Three senators say the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill needs tougher oversight after new figures show a quarter of the program's funds went to just eight companies that run for-profit colleges.

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Air Force to offer buyouts to 6,000 civilians

The Air Force is planning to make payments to civilian employees to encourage them to leave the federal payroll, in addition to offers of early retirement. The service is trying to get to the level of civilian employment authorized under DoD's civilian hiring freeze, which mandates the department maintain its non-uniformed workforce at fiscal 2010 levels.

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Air Force promises more disciplined acquisitions

The service no can longer pump money into ambitions that don't offer any immediate prospect of payoff, especially if those projects don't promise to deliver something the Air Force truly needs, the service's top officer said Tuesday.

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Air Force secretary pledges to protect key systems

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said Monday there are certain capabilities the service must keep whole as it navigates the current budget situation. He did not offer clues as to what the service would be willing to give up.

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