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.

DoD grants network access to Android, BlackBerry 10 devices

The Pentagon's mobile plan includes device approvals that will involve some up-front costs. The expectation is those costs will be quickly offset by eliminating the inefficiency of the slow, stovepiped and outdated approaches that have characterized DoD mobility up until now.

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Sequestration already biting Navy, Marines readiness

Currently deployed units and those behind them are fully trained and equipped, the services say. But those next in line "aren't doing much." The fiscal 2013 budget also may be too little, too late in some ship repair and maintenance efforts.

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Budget turmoil creates hurdles for DoD auditability

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Tex.) is a certified public accountant who chaired a year-long series of hearings on DoD audit readiness for the House Armed Services Committee. He spoke with Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu for this week's On DoD.

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Tightening budgets force DARPA to alter course for R&D

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been at the forefront of some of the most innovative technologies ever created — including the Internet. But as budgets tighten, the agency's director says she's trying to figure out how to deal with an increasingly complex threat environment as less money flows into the research and development pipeline.

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DoD acquisition managers told to think for themselves

The Pentagon's top acquisition official released guidance this week to implement the Defense Department's latest iteration of the Better Buying Power program. The plan tells acquisition managers their first priority should be to use their own expertise in making decisions.

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Army could lose 100,000 soldiers due to sequestration

Army leaders say the belated passage of a 2013 budget helped this year's fiscal picture, but the service still is more than $15 billion short of funds. If sequestration continues, the service will shrink by at least 100,000 soldiers.

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Internal watchdog blasts DoD's health IT efforts

A memo obtained by Federal News Radio points to a split in thinking inside the Pentagon's efforts to achieve interoperability with VA's electronic health record system. An assessment by the Pentagon's office of operational test and evaluation, an internal acquisition watchdog, finds DoD's project to build a new electronic health record is "likely to be detrimental to the President's goals" for interoperable health IT.

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Military groups fight to stop DoD budget proposal

Advocacy organizations are criticizing the Pentagon's proposed fee increase for TRICARE as unfair and discriminatory.

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Sequestration already taking toll on DoD's research and development

Defense agencies and services are pulling back hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grants and contracts. Impending furloughs will further impair DoD's ability to get money out the door.

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Hagel orders DoD to 'restructure' path toward integrated health record

The Pentagon delays its RFP for a new electronic health record system. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says a revised approach is coming soon.

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DoD makes auditability a priority, but will likely miss 2014 deadline

The Defense Department's attitude toward the importance of auditability has undergone a marked change, but experts believe compliance with its next legal deadline will be a stretch.

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DoD makes slow progress towards clean 2017 audit

Mark Easton, DoD's deputy chief financial officer, says the challenges toward a clean audit are significant but the Pentagon is still optimistic.

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DoD's 2014 budget: Fewer civilians, higher retiree health fees

The Defense Department's 2014 budget proposal reduces the size of the civilian workforce slightly, increases TRICARE premiums, and requests another round of base closures. It also calls for a slight raise for both civilian employees and uniformed servicemembers. The budget significantly exceeds the Defense spending caps in current law.

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Redundant agency programs wasting billions of dollars

From catfish inspections to military uniforms, redundancy problems within government agencies span virtually every major department and agency across government, according to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. The latest report from Dodaro's Government Accountability Office brings the number of redundant or inefficient mission areas within agencies to 162.

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Navy mandates partial migration to commercial cloud

A new memo from Navy Chief Information Officer Terry Halvorsen tells the Navy and Marine Corps to move public-facing data to commercial cloud service providers.

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Analysis: Pay, benefits, O&M will swallow entire DoD budget by 2024

Absent structural changes, the combination of 10-year budget caps Congress has already approved and rising growth in personnel costs mean DoD would be able to sign paychecks, administer healthcare benefits and not much more.

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Army uses dashboard technology to combat suicides

System aggregates data from various Army components to help commanders detect risk factors for suicide.

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Hagel tells Pentagon to brace for more cost cutting

In his first policy speech, new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel praised the military, but acknowledged DoD has grown older and more expensive in almost every way. While not a tacit acceptance of the automatic budget cuts imposed by sequestration, Hagel acknowledged it was time for the military to reassess how it can operate in the new budgetary environment where there will be fewer dollars available.

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No civilian furloughs in 2014, Pentagon promises

DoD says it's committed to making sure civilians are not furloughed in fiscal 2014, which begins in October. But if sequestration remains in place, the alternative would almost certainly be involuntary reductions in force for both civilian workers and uniformed service members, officials say.

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DoD releases more details on revised furlough timeline

Furlough notices will now be sent to employees in early May. Actual furloughs will begin in mid-to-late June, placing most Defense civilians on unpaid leave roughly one day per week for the final seven pay periods of the fiscal year.

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