Archive
Joint Warfighting and Readiness: Better Oversight and Accountability Needed for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command C-12 Aircraft
Joint Warfighting and Readiness: Better Oversight and Accountability Needed for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command C-12 Aircraft
Source: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General
USSOCOM officials did not provide adequate oversight and accountability of the USASOC C-12 aircraft in accordance with DoD guidance. USSOCOM officials did not report the aircraft in their Operational Support Airlift inventory for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s FY 2012 review. In addition, USSOCOM officials did not make the aircraft visible for centralized scheduling. This occurred because USSOCOM, Army G-3/5/7, and USASOC officials expressed confusion about who was responsible for providing oversight and accountability of the aircraft. As a result, USASOC may be operating an underused aircraft in excess of the required Operational Support Airlift aircraft inventory. In addition, DoD is at an increased risk that misuse of the aircraft by senior officials may occur and go undetected.
Faded Colors: From the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) to the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS)
Source: Naval Postgraduate Center
After the events of 9/11, Homeland Security Presidential Directive – 3 (HSPD – 3) established the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) to provide a comprehensive and effective means to di sseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to federal, state, and local authorities and the American people. Under HSAS, threat levels were raised or lowered 16 times, but never below Threat Level Yellow (Elevated Condition). HSAS should ha ve been straightforward and easy to understand. What evolved was confusion over alerts, lack of specific threat information, concerns over costs to institute and maintain protective measures, and questions regarding what was expected of citizens. Governmen t agencies, the private sector, and the general population became immune with the threat level remaining at or above Yellow.
HSAS was woefully misunderstood not just by the general population, but also within federal, state, and local governments. Ridicul ed by comedians, HSAS gradually began to disappear, to the point where it was necessary to search to find the current threat level, whereas it had once been prominently posted. The purpose of this thesis is to review HSAS and the associated problems, look at comparable international systems, and present an alternative recommendation to provide timely and informative warnings of terrorist threats, and restore credibility by merging HSAS with the already existing DoD force protection conditions.
New From the GAO
New GAO Report and Press Release
Source: Government Accountability Office
Report
1. Prescription Drugs: Comparison of DOD and VA Direct Purchase Prices. GAO-13-358, April 19.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-358
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654020.pdf
Press Release
1. GAO Fills Vacancy on Health Information Technology Policy Committee May 20.
http://www.gao.gov/press/gao_fills_vacancy_hit_committee.htm
New From the GAO
New GAO Report
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. DOD Business Systems Modernization: Further Actions Needed to Address Challenges and Improve Accountability. GAO-13-557, May 17.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-557
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654734.pdf
Defense Officials Aim to Reduce Adverse Effects of Furloughs
Defense Officials Aim to Reduce Adverse Effects of Furloughs
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
Following Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s announcement yesterday that most Defense Department civilian employees will experience up to 11 furlough days from early July through September, senior defense officials emphasized their goal to reduce adverse effects on the workforce and the mission.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters on background, two senior defense officials discussed details of the furlough, exemptions and stressed their intent to lessen its effects.
One official said it appears that about 15 percent — 120,000 of the department’s roughly 800,000 civilian employees — will be exempt from the furlough, and that number could rise once issues involving intelligence personnel are resolved.
While the furloughs will save the Defense Department $1.8 billion, “it’s not something that we wanted to do,” the official said.
Part of the department’s plan to reduce the furlough’s effects is to ask Congress allow shifting funds from one account to another, the official said.
The services previously had taken steps in an attempt to avoid furlough, the official noted, with the Air Force stopping flights for 12 combat-coded squadrons and the Army canceling most of its combat training rotations.
While all the services will experience furloughs, the official said, the Navy is getting a critical exemption for its civilian employees that work in shipyards and do nuclear maintenance, citing long periods required for maintenance and very little ability to catch up with maintenance on submarines and carriers.
The official acknowledged furloughs will reduce efficiency across the department.
+ Furlough memorandum (PDF)
+ OPM Frequently Asked Questions: Furlough
+ Special Report: Sequestration
New From the GAO
New GAO Reports
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. Defense Headquarters: DOD Needs to Periodically Review and Improve Visibility Of Combatant Commands’ Resources. GAO-13-293, May 15.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-293
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654639.pdf
2. Strategic Sourcing: Leading Commercial Practices Can Help Federal Agencies Increase Savings When Acquiring Services. GAO-13-417, April 15.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-417
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653771.pdf
3. Temporary Assistance For Needy Families: Potential Options to Improve Performance and Oversight. GAO-13-431, May 15.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-431
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654616.pdf
4. Financial Audit: Congressional Award Foundation’s Fiscal Years 2012 and 2011 Financial Statements. GAO-13-554, May 15.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-554
Taxes: Afghan Government Has Levied Nearly a Billion Dollars in Business Taxes on Contractors Supporting U.S. Government Efforts in Afghanistan
Source: Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
Since 2008, the Afghan Ministry of Finance (MOF) has levied over $921 million in business taxes, and associated penalties, on 43 contractors that support U.S. government efforts in Afghanistan. DOD, INL, and USAID have agreements with the Afghan government that provide exemption from certain Afghan taxes. SIGAR identified instances where contractors were taxed despite these agreements. For example, $93 million of the $921 million represented taxes levied on business receipts and annual corporate income—a tax category that both the U.S. and Afghan governments have agreed should be exempt for contractors operating under covered agreements. SIGAR also identified instances in which the MOF assessed tax liabilities on contractors even though the contractors held MOF-issued tax exemption certificates. For example, the MOF issued Business Receipts Tax and annual corporate income tax assessments on some DOD contractors, even though the contractors should have been exempt from both tax categories. Three DOD contractors in SIGAR’s sample that held MOF-issued tax exemption certificates were improperly assessed nearly $59 million in business receipts and annual corporate income taxes. U.S. and MOF officials disagree about the tax-exempt status of subcontractors. MOF officials assert that the DOD and State INL agreements provide tax-exempt status only to prime contractors, and not subcontractors, whereas U.S. government officials contend that the agreements provide tax exemption for all non-Afghan companies (both prime and subcontractors) supporting U.S. government efforts. Given these ongoing disputes and the ambiguous nature of the MOF-issued assessments, the 43 contractors in SIGAR’s sample have paid approximately $67 million of the $921 million in total tax assessments, and most still face unresolved assessments. As a result of the outstanding assessments, the MOF has restricted contractors’ freedom of movement and refused to renew business licenses, and the Afghan government has even arrested some contractor personnel. The combined effect is the potential interruption of support to U.S. military operations.
Cyber Infrastructure Protection: Vol. II
Cyber Infrastructure Protection: Vol. II
Source: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
Increased reliance on the Internet and other networked systems raise the risks of cyber attacks that could harm our nation’s cyber infrastructure. The cyber infrastructure encompasses a number of sectors including: the nation’s mass transit and other transportation systems; banking and financial systems; factories; energy systems and the electric power grid; and telecommunications, which increasingly rely on a complex array of computer networks, including the public Internet. However, many of these systems and networks were not built and designed with security in mind. Therefore, our cyber infrastructure contains many holes, risks, and vulnerabilities that may enable an attacker to cause damage or disrupt cyber infrastructure operations. Threats to cyber infrastructure safety and security come from hackers, terrorists, criminal groups, and sophisticated organized crime groups; even nation-states and foreign intelligence services conduct cyber warfare. Cyber attackers can introduce new viruses, worms, and bots capable of defeating many of our efforts. Costs to the economy from these threats are huge and increasing. Government, business, and academia must therefore work together to understand the threat and develop various modes of fighting cyber attacks, and to establish and enhance a framework to assess the vulnerability of our cyber infrastructure and provide strategic policy directions for the protection of such an infrastructure. This book addresses such questions as: How serious is the cyber threat? What technical and policy-based approaches are best suited to securing telecommunications networks and information systems infrastructure security? What role will government and the private sector play in homeland defense against cyber attacks on critical civilian infrastructure, financial, and logistical systems? What legal impediments exist concerning efforts to defend the nation against cyber attacks, especially in preventive, preemptive, and retaliatory actions?
See also: Cyber Infrastructure Protection (2011)
Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military (Vol. 2)
Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military (Vol. 2)
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
2012 Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members
Overall, 6.1% of women and 1.2% of men indicated they experienced unwanted sexual contact in 2012. For women, this rate is statistically significantly higher in 2012 than in 2010 (6.1% vs. 4.4%); there is no statistically significant difference between 2012 and 2006 (6.1% vs. 6.8%). There is no statistically significant difference for men in the overall rate between 2012 and 2010 or 2006 (1.2% vs. 0.9% and 1.8%). Of the 6.1% of women who experienced unwanted sexual contact, 32% indicated the most serious behavior they experienced was unwanted sexual touching only, 26% indicated they experienced attempted sex, and 31% indicated they experienced completed sex. There were no statistically significant differences in the most serious behaviors for women between 2006, 2010, and 2012. Of the 1.2% of men who indicated experiencing unwanted sexual contact, 51% indicated the most serious behavior they experienced was unwanted sexual touching only, 5% indicated they experienced attempted sex, and 10% indicated they experienced completed sex. There were no statistically significant differences in the most serious behaviors for men between 2006, 2010, and 2012.
Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military 2012
Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military 2012
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
In FY12, the Military Services received a total of 3,374 reports of sexual assault involving Service members as either victims or subjects, which represents a 6 percent increase from the 3,192 reports made in FY11.
Report on North Korea’s Military and Security Developments
Report on North Korea’s Military and Security Developments (PDF)
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) remains one of the United States’ most critical security challenges in Northeast Asia. North Korea remains a security threat because of its willingness to undertake provocative and destabilizing behavior, including attacks on the Republic of Korea (ROK), its pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles, and its willingness to proliferate weapons in contravention of its international agreements and United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013
Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013 (PDF)
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (PRC) continues to pursue a long – term, comprehensive military modernization program designed to improve the capacity of its armed forces to fight and win short-duration, high-intensity regional military conflict . Preparing for potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait appears to remain the principal focus and primary driver of China’s military investment. However, as China’s interests have grown and as it has gained greater influence in the international system, its military modernization has also become increasingly focus ed on investments in military capabilities to conduct a wider range of missions beyond its immediate territorial concerns, including counter – piracy, peace keeping, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, and regional military operations. Some of these missions and capabilities can address international security challenges, while other s could serve more narrowly-defined PRC interests and objectives, including advancing territorial claims and building influence abroad.
Combat Camera Multi-service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures For Combat Camera (COMCAM) Operations
Source: U.S. Department of Defense (via Federation of American Scientists)
This multi-Service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (MTTP) publication for combat camera (COMCAM) establishes TTP for commanders, planners, and staffs at all levels with a single source document and addresses essential information to plan, employ and integrate COMCAM capabilities.
Chapter I provides an overview of COMCAM operations and how COMCAM assets provide commanders a unique, firsthand visual account of tactical actions. It describes how COMCAM supports commanders by acquiring, processing, and disseminating classified and unclassified imagery and multi-media products collected during all phases of military operations or campaigns.
Chapter II describes each Services’ COMCAM capabilities, team make-up, and highlights specific attributes to assist the commander and planner during the force development process. This helps to facilitate the matching of mission specific requirements with the correct COMCAM capability.
Chapter III highlights COMCAM roles and responsibilities of Service components, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Joint Combat Camera Program Manager, Imagery Operations and Coordination Center (IOCC) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). COMCAM units have specific roles and responsibilities assigned to them to ensure combatant commanders are provided with the joint COMCAM forces and assets.
Chapter IV describes how COMCAM forces are tasked, deployed, and employed as an integral part of operations to ensure visual information documentation of US military activities during wartime, worldwide crises, contingencies, joint exercises, and other events of significant national interest involving the Department of Defense.
Chapter V provides an overview of the Services’ COMCAM training. Integrating COMCAM assets into joint exercises is also addressed.
Appendix A provides key contact information and overviews the COMCAM tasking process. It notes that COMCAM requirements for joint operations must be vetted through the Global Force Management (GFM) process to the Service providers. Once the requirement is sourced to the respective Services, the details (personnel and logistics) will be loaded in the Joint Operation Planning and Execution System (JOPES) for assignment of unit line numbers (ULNs).
Appendix B provides operational examples of COMCAM imagery used to support Commanders objectives. The photos and vignettes provide the Commander with explicit examples of how COMCAM can support mission objectives.
Defense Budget Priorities and Choices Fiscal Year 2014
Defense Budget Priorities and Choices Fiscal Year 2014 (PDF)
Source: U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 requests $526.6 billion to protect and advance security interests at home and abroad during the coming fiscal year and into the future. This budget reflects the difficult choices involved with protecting America’s security interests and role as a global power at a time of declining budgets and ongoing fiscal uncertainty about the future. This request balances the competing and compelling demands of supporting troops still engaged in Afghanistan, protecting readiness, modernizing the military’s aging weapons inventory, and sustaining the quality and care of the all-volunteer force— all while implementing and deepening our alignment to the Defense Strategic Guidance signed by the President last year. This paper highlights the Department’s ongoing efforts to achieve an agile and ready force while maintaining the right capabilities and capacity to rapidly deal with contingencies across the globe.
From Chaos to Cohesion: A Regional Approach to Security, Stability, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
From Chaos to Cohesion: A Regional Approach to Security, Stability, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Source: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
Prevention is the key to effective policies in Africa, whether the issue is equitable resource exploitation, ethnic conflict, infectious diseases, or famine. African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have moved beyond their initial purpose of a loose confederation of trading partners to become increasingly effective supranational bodies promoting financial, political, and security stabilization in each of their regions. Looking at each of the RECs, their power centers, and areas of weakness, policymakers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the sometimes symbiotic and often destructive dynamics within and among African states to seek more effective strategic and regional, not national, approaches. This monograph suggests USAFRICOM is uniquely positioned to help design a path to spearhead a pan-African strategy highly likely to have the net long-term effect of attaining considerable competitive advantage for the U.S. economically, militarily, and politically, with a corresponding increase in stability, security, and economic opportunity for the entire continent.
Mental Health Diagnoses and Counseling Among Pilots of Remotely Piloted Aircraft in the United States Air Force
Source: Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center
Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), also known as drones, have been used extensively in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although RPA pilots in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) have reported high levels of stress and fatigue, rates of mental health (MH) diagnoses and counseling in this population are unknown. We calculated incidence rates of 12 specific MH outcomes among all active component USAF RPA pilots between 1 October 2003 and 31 December 2011, and by various demographic and military variables. We compared these rates to those among all active component USAF manned aircraft (MA) pilots deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan during the same period. The unadjusted incidence rates of all MH outcomes among RPA pilots (n=709) and MA pilots (n=5,256) were 25.0 per 1,000 person-years and 15.9 per 1,000 person-years, respectively (adjusted incidence rate ratio=1.1, 95% confidence interval=0.9-1.5; adjusted for age, number of deployments, time in service, and history of any MH outcome). Th ere was no significant difference in the rates of MH diagnoses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders between RPA and MA pilots. Military policymakers and clinicians should recognize that RPA and MA pilots have similar MH risk profiles.
Capabilities-Based Planning for Energy Security at Department of Defense Installations
Capabilities-Based Planning for Energy Security at Department of Defense Installations
Source: RAND Corporation
Department of Defense (DoD) installations rely on the commercial electricity grid for 99 percent of their electricity needs, but extensive energy delivery outages in 2012 have reinforced that the U.S. electricity grid is vulnerable to disruptions from natural hazards and actor-induced outages, such as physical or cyber attacks. In the event of a catastrophic disaster — such as a severe hurricane, massive earthquake, or large-scale terrorist attack — DoD installations would also serve as a base for emergency services. To enhance energy security, DoD has identified diversifying energy sources and increasing efficiency in DoD operations as critical goals. But how to enhance energy security across the portfolio of installations is not clear and several questions remain unanswered: Energy security for how long? Under what conditions? At what cost? The underlying analytical questions are, what critical capabilities do U.S. installations provide, and how can DoD maintain these capabilities during an energy services disruption in the most cost-effective manner? Answering these questions requires a systems approach that incorporates technological, economic, and operational uncertainties. Using portfolio analysis methods for assessing capability options, this paper presents a framework to evaluate choices among energy security strategies for DoD installations. This framework evaluates whether existing or proposed installation energy security strategies enhance DoD capabilities and evaluates strategy cost-effectiveness.
CRS — Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs: Status of the Integrated Electronic Health Record (iEHR)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)
Electronic health records (EHRs) play an important role in optimizing the health care provided to active duty servicemembers and veterans. When a servicemember leaves military service by way of discharge, separation, or retirement he or she may become eligible for VA benefits and services including VA health care. Transitioning their health care information from one large health care system (Department of Defense; DOD) to the other (Department of Veterans Affairs; VA) involves coordination of data and information between DOD and VA. Longstanding concern that this exchange be effective has been expressed in many quarters, including Congress.
The DOD and the VA have been working to exchange patient health information since 1998. To date, both Departments’ initiatives include (1) the Federal Health Information Exchange (FHIE), which enables the one-way transfer of servicemembers’ electronic health information from DOD to VA for all separated servicemembers; (2) the Bidirectional Health Information Exchange (BHIE), which allows health care providers from both Departments viewable access to records of shared patients; (3) the Clinical Data Repository/Veterans Affairs Health Data Repository (CHDR),which enables the DOD and VA to exchange computable outpatient pharmacy and drug allergy information for shared patients; and (4) the Laboratory Data Sharing Interphase (LDSI), which allows DOD and VA facilities to share laboratory information.
Congressional committees with oversight over veterans matters have devoted attention to health information sharing between the DOD and VA. In 2008, they included relevant provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008 (P.L. 110-181). The law mandated DOD and VA to jointly develop and implement electronic health record systems or capabilities to allow for full interoperability of personal health care information, and to accelerate the exchange of health care information between DOD and VA by September 2009. To this end, the law also established an interagency program office (IPO) to act as a single point of accountability.
In December 2010, the Deputy Secretaries of DOD and VA directed the development of an integrated Electronic Health Record (iEHR), which would provide both Departments an opportunity to reduce costs and improve interoperability and connectivity. On March 17, 2011, the Secretaries of DOD and VA reached an agreement to work cooperatively on the development of a common electronic health record and to transition to the new iEHR by 2017.
On February 5, 2013, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs announced that instead of building a single integrated electronic health record (iEHR), both DOD and VA will concentrate on integrating VA and DOD health data by focusing on interoperability and using existing technological solutions. This announcement was a departure from the previous commitments that both Departments had made to design and build a new single iEHR, rather than upgrading their current electronic health records and trying to develop interoperability solutions.
Army Task Force on Behavioral Health: Corrective Action Plan
Army Task Force on Behavioral Health: Corrective Action Plan (PDF)
Source: U.S. Army (Task Force on Behavioral Health) (via Federal News Radio)
The Army has devoted an extraordinary amount of time, attention, and resources to care for Soldiers returning from deployments, especially those with behavioral health conditions. The Army continues to make great strides in changing the culture that stigmatized those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and to educate and encourage Soldiers and leaders to heal these invisible wounds of war. The Army has revised several policies to ensure Soldiers with PTSD are prop – erly diagnosed, and if appropriate, considered for a medical discharge. Most recently, the Army proactively implemented several initiatives to resolve some of the findings discovered during the ATFBH comprehensive review. These changes are positive steps for our wounded, ill and injured, and this CAP details subsequent actions required to achieve a more efficient and effective disability system for Soldiers with behavioral health conditions.
Learning From Iraq: A Final Report From the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
Learning From Iraq: A Final Report From the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
Source: Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
A Final Report From the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction culminates SIGIR’s nine-year mission overseeing Iraq’s reconstruction. It serves as a follow-up to our previous comprehensive review of the rebuilding effort, Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience.
This study provides much more than a recapitulation of what the reconstruction program accomplished and what my office found in the interstices. While examining both of these issues and many more, Learning From Iraq importantly captures the effects of the rebuilding program as derived from 44 interviews with the recipients (the Iraqi leadership), the executors (U.S. senior leaders), and the providers (congressional members). These interviews piece together an instructive picture of what was the largest stabilization and reconstruction operation ever undertaken by the United States (until recently overtaken by Afghanistan).
The body of this report reveals countless details about the use of more than $60 billion in taxpayer dollars to support programs and projects in Iraq. It articulates numerous lessons derived from SIGIR’s 220 audits and 170 inspections, and it lists the varying consequences meted out from the 82 convictions achieved through our investigations. It urges and substantiates necessary reforms that could improve stabilization and reconstruction operations, and it highlights the financial benefits accomplished by SIGIR’s work: more than $1.61 billion from audits and over $191 million from investigations.
