By David J. Berteau, Gregory Sanders, Jesse Ellman, Center for Strategic and International Studies, June 16, 2014 “This report analyzes contracting for products, services, and research development by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its key components. In provides an in-depth look at trends in DHS contracting since the establishment of the agency and provides an initial… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Defense
New GAO Reports – Airport Funding, Coast Guard Acquisitions, Defense Health Care, Medicaid, VA Health Care
AIRPORT FUNDING: Aviation Industry Changes Affect Airport Development Costs and Financing, GAO-14-658T: Published: Jun 18, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 18, 2014. COAST GUARD ACQUISITIONS: Better Information on Performance and Funding Needed to Address Shortfalls, GAO-14-650T: Published: Jun 18, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 18, 2014. COAST GUARD ACQUISITIONS: Better Information on Performance and Funding Needed to Address Shortfalls, GAO-14-450: Published: Jun 5, 2014. Publicly Released:… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Combatting Terrorism, Recovery Act, Sequestration
COMBATING TERRORISM: State Department Can Improve Management of East Africa Program, GAO-14-502: Published: Jun 17, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 17, 2014. RECOVERY ACT: USDA Should Include Broadband Program’s Impact in Annual Performance Reports, GAO-14-511: Published: Jun 17, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 17, 2014. SEQUESTRATION: Comprehensive and Updated Cost Savings Would Better Inform DOD Decision Makers If Future Civilian Furloughs Occur, GAO-14-529: Published: Jun 17,… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Coast Guard, Pesticide Safety, Retirement Security, School Meals Programs, Defense Health Care, Corporate Tax Noncompliance
COAST GUARD: Resources Provided for Drug Interdiction Operations in the Transit Zone, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, GAO-14-527: Published: Jun 16, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2014. PESTICIDE SAFETY: Improvements Needed in EPA’s Good Laboratory Practices Inspection Program, GAO-14-289: Published: May 15, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2014. RETIREMENT SECURITY: Oversight of the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust, GAO-14-312: Published: May… Continue Reading
New Yorker Commentary – A Wider War
Dexter Filkins via the The New Yorker [snipped] “…the events unfolding in Iraq point toward a much wider war, reaching from the Iranian frontier to the Mediterranean coast. The long open border between Iraq and Syria, and the big stretches of ungoverned space, has allowed extremists on each side to grow and to support one another. isis and… Continue Reading
Military spending continues to fall in the West but rises everywhere else, says SIPRI
“World military expenditure totalled $1.75 trillion in 2013, a fall of 1.9 per cent in real terms since 2012, according to figures released [April 14, 2014] by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The comprehensive annual update of the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database is accessible from today at www.sipri.org. The fall in the global total… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – IRS 2015 Budget, Nuclear Nonproliferation
IRS 2015 BUDGET: Long-Term Strategy and Return on Investment Data Needed to Better Manage Budget Uncertainty and Set Priorities, GAO-14-605: Published: Jun 12, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 12, 2014. NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION: Additional Actions Needed to Increase the Security of U.S. Industrial Radiological Sources, GAO-14-293: Published: Jun 6, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 12, 2014. NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION: Additional Actions Needed to Increase the Security… Continue Reading
Global Response to Snowden Disclosures Revealed in New Report – EFF
EFF – “It has been one year since the first Snowden disclosure and in lieu of this first anniversary, world privacy expert and publisher of The Privacy Surgeon, Simon Davies, conceived and published a report titled “A Crisis of Accountability: A global analysis of the impact of the Snowden revelations.” The report includes contributions from individual countries, summarizing the extent to… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Airline Competition, National Defense, Surface Ships, Terrorism Insurance, U.S. Currency
AIRLINE COMPETITION: The Average Number of Competitors in Markets Serving the Majority of Passengers Has Changed Little in Recent Years, but Stakeholders Voice Concerns about Competition, GAO-14-515: Published: Jun 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Jun 11, 2014. NATIONAL DEFENSE: Department of Defense’s Waiver of Competitive Prototyping Requirement for the Army’s Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2, Block 1 Program, GAO-14-643R: Published:… Continue Reading
Autonomous Weapons and Human Responsibilities
Beard, Jack M., Autonomous Weapons and Human Responsibilities (June 9, 2014). 45 Georgetown Journal of International Law 617 (2014). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2447968 “Although remote-controlled robots flying over the Middle East and Central Asia now dominate reports on new military technologies, robots that are capable of detecting, identifying, and killing enemies on their own… Continue Reading
ACLU – NSA Says It’s Too Large, Complex to Comply With Court Order
Patrick C. Toomey, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project News release:” “In an era of too-big-to-fail banks, we should have known it was coming: An intelligence agency too big to rein in — and brazen enough to say so. In a remarkable legal filing on Friday afternoon, the NSA told a federal court that its spying operations are… Continue Reading
ISOO releases its FY 2013 Annual Report to the President
National Archive and Records Administration. The Information Security Oversight Office’s (ISOO) Report for Fiscal Year 2013, as required by Executive Order 13526, “Classified National Security Information” (the Order). “Original classification authorities, also called original classifiers, are those individuals designated in writing, either by the President, by selected agency heads, or by designated senior agency officials… Continue Reading
