Pentagon

A new Defense Department inspector general audit has found DOD agencies routinely failed to check whether defense contractors were protecting sensitive information on their networks with the required security controls.

Raytheon and United Technologies this week held a "joint kickoff" event for their integration process, according to a top Raytheon executive.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee who helped guide past budget deals to significantly boost defense spending, said today he supports the latest two-year budget compromise reached by the White House and Congress, despite the fact it is $12 billion less for the Pentagon that he thinks is necessary.

Some of the largest defense contractors today reported higher quarterly sales and profit.

The new two-year budget agreement means the Defense Department will absorb about $580 billion in reductions between fiscal years 2012 and 2021, far less than the $1 trillion worst-case scenario that originally loomed as part of the 2011 Budget Control Act, but still substantial reductions compared to plans set by U.S. military leaders in 2011.

President Trump today said his administration will be looking into recent media reports that China-based Huawei has been working with North Korea in its build-out of 5G networks, while also suggesting the United States has a strong working relationship with North Korean President Kim Jong-un.

The Pentagon has drafted a new policy to guide software acquisitions, and officials are preparing to test out the pathway through wargaming next month, according to documents obtained by Inside Defense.

Federal acquisition officials including from the Pentagon held a public meeting Friday that did more to frame the questions, than to provide answers, for upcoming regulations on banning Huawei and other China-based companies from the government's information technology supply chain, including such basic issues as who is in charge of enforcing the new rules.

The Trump administration wants to retain the option to develop a road-mobile variant of the new Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, objecting to legislation that would extend through 2030 the current statutory ban on truck-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles -- which are more difficult for an adversary to target than silo-based weapons.