Pentagon

The U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on the Turkish government today after Ankara ignored the Trump administration's numerous appeals to reverse its 2018 purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system.

The bipartisan Congressional Oversight Commission charged with reviewing pandemic stimulus spending is pressing Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord to provide more public information about the Defense Department's support for a controversial $700 million loan to a financially troubled trucking company.

Lawmakers are directing a digital overhaul of the Defense Department's acquisition system and instructing defense officials to use "data-driven portfolio management" to consolidate duplicate or similar weapon systems.

President-elect Biden has said he intends to nominate retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin for defense secretary, putting a spotlight on the former four-star's time as a member of Raytheon Technologies' board of directors.

The Defense Department is delaying defining the "scope" of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification assessments for maturity levels one and three in the first editions of its assessment guides, which assessors say will impact the ability to conduct a comprehensive audit.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said today Democrats and Republicans in Congress have the votes necessary to override President Trump if he vetoes the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill.

In a report issued last month, the Defense Business Board recommended the presidential transition team have at least 13 Defense Department appointees confirmed to begin work immediately after the Jan. 20 inauguration.

The Pentagon's approach to making cybersecurity a foundational part of acquisition is mandating new compliance requirements for the defense industrial base, which could potentially create a division between primes and subcontractors when it comes to information sharing.

House and Senate conferees have agreed to include major cybersecurity pieces in the annual defense policy bill, creating a National Cyber Director and adopting other proposals that will make the legislation "the most significant cyber bill Congress has ever passed," according to Cyberspace Solarium Commission senior adviser Mark Montgomery.