The Pentagon has moved in recent years to better secure key technologies from potential adversaries like China, but those efforts are increasingly coming into conflict with the Defense Department's attempts to work with commercial businesses.
Supply Chain
May 6, 2019
May 2, 2019
The Federal Acquisition Security Council held its first meeting this week to begin developing a national strategy for securing the government's supply chain from cyber and other threats, with the Defense Department's strict cybersecurity rules likely to serve as a model.
April 2, 2019
The counterintelligence landscape has evolved from a focus on various nation-state actors to specific issues such as cybersecurity and supply-chain threats, intelligence official Bill Evanina said Monday, while advocating for government and industry groups to pursue "enterprise-wide" solutions to combat those supply-chain threats.
January 4, 2019
Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) today announced a new bill that would establish an office within the White House aimed at galvanizing stakeholders to stem the threat of intellectual property theft from China through forced technology transfers, and to secure the supply chain for critical technologies.
December 20, 2018
The Defense Department is working on an amendment to its acquisition rules that would place more restrictions on procurement of some foreign commercial satellite services and would prohibit the purchase of items from some Chinese military companies.
October 9, 2018
The Pentagon should throw its considerable political weight behind a longstanding proposal supported by industry to revise the anti-terrorism SAFETY Act by expanding its liability protections to address cybersecurity measures, according to recommendations in a MITRE Corp. report on securing the military's supply chain.
October 9, 2018
Harvey Rishikof, a key author of a MITRE Corp. report on securing the Pentagon's cyber supply chain, expects changes in defense acquisition rules will be an initial step in implementing the recommendations, which he says will have sweeping implications for the design of networks and IT products.
October 9, 2018
Senior intelligence officials on Monday said they want better information sharing arrangements and a more expansive role for the government in protecting the defense industrial base and critical infrastructure from threats to the U.S. supply chain, especially in cyberspace.
October 5, 2018
Senior Pentagon officials say they are prepared to spend new money and take other actions to “selectively intervene” in the U.S. defense supply chain if they deem it necessary to protect the industrial base from “predatory” Chinese influence or market-driven failures.
October 5, 2018
The U.S. defense industrial base is increasingly at risk, specifically from China, and in need of new, direct investments at the subcontractor level to prevent single points of failure and dependence on foreign sources, according to a long-awaited Pentagon report commissioned by President Trump.
October 4, 2018
The Pentagon's recent $11.5 billion contract award to Lockheed Martin for 141 F-35s includes the first round of new performance incentives aimed at driving the program's supply chain to improve production and sustainment efficiency.
September 29, 2018
Policy initiatives unfolding at the departments of Homeland Security and Defense are aiming for breakthroughs on addressing longstanding cyber supply-chain concerns, which could force major changes in how the government makes purchasing decisions, its interactions with industry in setting those requirements and the role of the Pentagon in protecting domestic digital assets -- including privately owned networks.
September 27, 2018
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday unanimously approved a bipartisan bill that would establish a federal acquisition council to address supply-chain cybersecurity risks, in a move intended to "bridge the information gap" in purchasing decisions by civilian agencies and the Pentagon.
September 24, 2018
The Pentagon is unable to reliably demonstrate it has followed the law and enacted billions in overhead cost cuts sought by Congress to be reinvested into warfighting and weapon systems, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
September 12, 2018
The Pentagon since 2011 has been unable to prove that a series of internal efficiency initiatives have saved billions and its latest effort may be headed for a significant disruption.
September 5, 2018
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord said today the Pentagon is working on new standards for the procurement of intellectual property, something she acknowledged has long been a "thorny" issue between the government and defense contractors.
August 30, 2018
Pentagon officials have been mulling over a new initiative aimed at raising the importance of security in acquisition for at least two months, but industry groups are awaiting further clarity on how the Defense Department will implement the “deliver uncompromised” effort.
August 13, 2018
The Pentagon is considering a series of recommendations for how it can fix vulnerabilities in its supply chain and convince contractors to take security as seriously as cost, schedule and performance.
July 27, 2018
The defense industrial base report, which is at the White House, focuses on the defense supply chain down to "the granular level," according to the Pentagon acquisition chief.
July 27, 2018
The Pentagon has issued a "do not buy" list of software to its acquisition workforce with the goal of ensuring no software linked to Russia or China is used in Defense Department systems and the defense supply chain.