Pentagon

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency has continued to put a dent in the background investigations backlog, as the case inventory is nearing the point at which federal officials believe they should start to achieve "timeliness" goals for completing investigations.

A bipartisan group of senators is pressing new White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien to establish a telecommunications security coordinator, citing concerns about China and the development of next-generation 5G networks and arguing federal efforts lack a "coherent national strategy."

The Government Accountability Office has sustained Blue Origin's protest of Phase 2 of the Air Force's Launch Services Procurement effort and is recommending the service amend the solicitation.

Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper told reporters today he expects the service will have a difficult time defending its fiscal year 2021 budget request, largely because it recommends shifting billions of dollars from legacy platforms to a digital infrastructure Congress may not be ready to embrace.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission is recommending Congress require the Pentagon to annually document Beijing's progress toward achieving a 2017 goal set by President Xi Jinping to build a "world-class" military and put the People's Liberation Army on par with other leading global powers.

The Defense Department for the second year in a row failed to obtain a clean financial opinion from auditors and does not expect to achieve one for at least several years, though Pentagon officials say they are making steady progress.

The Pentagon has stood up a Joint Independent Assessment Team to assess F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s proposal for a five-year, fixed-price sustainment contract -- the first of its kind for the program.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith said partisan disagreement over how to address President Trump’s use of Pentagon money to fund the construction of a southern border wall continues to be the most contentious issue holding up the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill.

The head of the F-35 joint program office revealed today that a dispute between the government and prime contractor Lockheed Martin over intellectual property rights -- which has driven delays integrating the jet into a new Joint Simulation Environment -- is currently under protest and awaiting a decision from the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.