DARPA’s LogX program will move DoD logistics and supply chain data to the cloud.

A new Government Accountability Office report scolds the Department of Defense for failing to figure out which rare earth elements are critical to national security — China controls the world market — and for not developing plans to make sure the United States has enough even though Congress passed a law telling them to five years… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: A year after the Navy’s last Chief Information Officer left to become CIO of the entire Defense Department, the Navy Department is bringing in new blood to fill its CIO position: Rob Foster. A retired Navy officer with extensive acquisition and IT experience, Foster has served as deputy CIO of both HHS and ICE (Immigration &… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: In what looks very much like an opening shot in a fundamental fiscal battle between the four armed services and the Office of Secretary of Defense, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus came right out today and said we should preserve fighting forces by cutting Defense Department agencies that are “pure overhead,” His prime candidates? The testers who make sure the services’… Keep reading →

“There’re a lot of chiselers out there,” Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek sighed. Congressional angst over counterfeit parts has understandably focused on ersatz electronics, many of them from much-mistrusted China, but as head of the Defense Logistics Agency, Harnitchek has found fakes in everything from air filters to rubber tubing. “There’re folks that counterfeit those, believe it or… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Some 45 football fields and gear worth $5 billion. That’s how much excess inventory and storage room the Defense Logistics Agency has sold or destroyed since the height of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it’s not finished. DLA’s first sale of surplus equipment to local businesses in Afghanistan is scheduled for next… Keep reading →

Additive manufacturing, known to the public as 3D printing, may profoundly improve combat readiness and the defense industrial base far more than imagined by most proponents. But the Pentagon must account for the way different organizations measure performance, or it will be doomed to long delays and costly failure. Additive manufacturing can be used to… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Over the years I’ve heard dozens of defense executives grumble about the government “stealing” their intellectual property but, when push comes to shove, no one has ever wanted to talk about it for fear of ticking off “the customer.” Since the Pentagon is their only customer, their reluctance is understandable. But a smallish Texas… Keep reading →

This November, the Defense Logistics Agency will require companies selling microcircuits to the military to stamp their products with an unlikely seal of authenticity: plant DNA. It’s an innovative initiative in the fight against counterfeit computer chips, which has been a major concern in the Senate, but it’s only one piece of the answer. DLA… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: As the United States military begins to leave Afghanistan, the Defense Logistics Agency is emptying its warehouses there of stockpiled supplies such as copper wire and shipping them back to the States, says DLA Director Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek. Harnitchek expects the supply agency’s spending will shrink from a wartime peak of $46 billion… Keep reading →