Pentagon

The Defense Department officials who decided to award a multibillion-dollar cloud contract to Microsoft Azure were not influenced by anyone from the White House, including President Trump, according to DOD's top IT official.

The National Defense Industrial Association has issued a report that emphasizes the important role that insurance companies can play in helping smaller businesses get certified -- and stave off potential supply shortages -- under an emerging Defense Department program that would establish baseline cybersecurity requirements for vendors and service providers.

Congress, despite having agreed to a broad budget deal, has begun looking for stopgaps and schedule extensions for the defense spending and policy bills, which are already overdue and remain stalled amid partisan fighting over President Trump's use of military construction funds to build a southern border wall.

The White House Office of Management and Budget is balking at Defense Department plans for a Next Generation Interceptor, exposing a rift inside the Trump administration over how to modernize the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system just weeks after Mike Griffin, the Pentagon's top technology officer, sold Senate appropriators on plans for the new-start program.

One of the Senate's most vocal missile defense proponents said he was blindsided by the Pentagon's decision in August to terminate the Redesigned Kill Vehicle and raised concern the replacement program -- the new-start Next Generation Interceptor -- could take so long to develop and field it will leave the United States vulnerable to North Korean threats.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) is concerned the Air Force's $85 billion nuclear missile replacement will likely proceed with Northrop Grumman absent any competition, though he said he offered to help Boeing address its concerns about the program after the company announced it would not bid.

​The Army has set an "aggressive" test plan for the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon program that calls for six flights, including two executed by soldiers who will operate the first battery of the new ground-launched strategic weapon by 2023, according to a senior service official.

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX) says the impeachment inquiry into President Trump's hold on Ukraine aid is "sucking all the oxygen out of the room" as lawmakers look to negotiate contentious issues in the defense authorization and appropriations bills, respectively.

A new task force established by the House Armed Services Committee expects to ask "tough questions" about the Defense Department's strategy, investments and structure for addressing future threats, with a heavy emphasis on China.