Science & Tech

How Bad Commercial GEOINT Helped Sink the USS Guardian

NGA says over-reliance on error ridden commercial satellite imagery, among other missteps, doomed the USS Guardian to strike a reef. By Bob Brewin

Ideas

DC's Political Paralysis 'Means More Casualties' for Untrained Soldiers

The best place to learn how Washington’s budget impasse is putting troops at risk is the Army’s National Training Center, which has cancelled rotations for the first time since 1981. By James Kitfield

Business

Time to Treat the VA's Problems as DOD's Problems

The VA's letdowns are now the Defense Department's problem, too. It’s time VA readiness were on par with DOD readiness. By Alexander Nicholson

Business

How BAE Systems Execs are Surviving Sequester: Shadeless Airline Windows

Two BAE Systems executive VPs say that they're pivoting away from uncertain U.S. defense dollars and moving into commercial and foreign markes, or "portfolio shaping". By Sara Sorcher

Business

Guantanamo Prison Complex Pricetag: $5.24 Billion

The operating costs for the Guantanamo prison complex will be more than $454 million this year. The cost of running a U.S. maximum security prison? Just $70,000 a year. By Lily Kuo

Ideas

Wanted: A Post-War Watchdog for Nation-Building

The U.S. may be ending big wars, but military 'stability operations' and expensive nation-building projects will continue. The U.S. inspector general in Iraq argues the Pentagon needs someone to oversee contingency spending. By Stuart Bowen

Business

Hagel Presses Congress with Grim Alternatives to Sequestration

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's SCMR lays out tough choices for Congress on how to cut the defense budget without sequestration. By Stephanie Gaskell

Business

The Government's Real Problem With the Bradley Manning Trial

Despite a guilty verdict on most counts, the government still can't share intelligence. By Matthew Cooper

Policy

Hagel to Reveal Sequester Review, Three Paths for Pentagon Future

With the Strategic Choices and Management Review in hand, Hagel will present three budget scenarios and their consequences to the Defense Department. By Stephanie Gaskell

Ideas

Ash Carter Got it Right in Aspen, Top DOD Nuclear Weapons Official Responds

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter was accurate about nuclear weapons costs, but arguing misses the point. The U.S. needs them and can afford them. By Madelyn Creedon

Business

Pentagon May Be Able To Reduce Furloughs to Just Six Days

The Defense Department says it might only have to furlough its civilian workforce for six days, rather than the planned 11 days. By Defense One Staff

Business

Obama's Whistleblower Witchunt Won't Work at DOD

The U.S. has tried something like President Obama’s 'Insider Threat Program' before. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. By Gabe Rottman

Business

Pentagon Protests Massive Southwest Green Power Lines

Proposed giant towers called "unacceptable risk" to testing, aircraft at White Sands Missile Range in Arizona. By Bob Brewin

Business

Sequester and the Supply Chain: 'Life or Death' for the F-35's Small Companies

As manufacturers lose orders and lay off employees, the price of top weapons programs will rise. The anatomy of the F-35 shows why. By Sara Sorcher

Business

Obama's Intel Workers Need New Policies for Secrets, not Snitches

In the Snowden fallout, the administration should focus on developing a happier intelligence workforce, not outing insider threats. By Marc Ambinder

Science & Tech

The NSA's New Spy Facilities are 7 Times Bigger Than the Pentagon

It’s no secret that Harvey Davis has a sensitive job building massive spy data centers. By Aliya Sternstein

Business

Let Air Force Run the Military Satellites, Watchdog Argues

It’s been a long time since TSAT. A new report says the Pentagon should let the Air Force control the next-generation MILSATCOM architecture to save money and add security. It’s not that simple, though. By Kevin Baron

Ideas

What Ash Carter Gets Wrong about Nuclear Weapons Spending

It’s hard to imagine how Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter could get it so wrong in Aspen about nuclear weapons spending. But wrong he is. By Kingston Reif

Business

House Approves 1.8 Percent Military Pay Raise

Measure also cancels possible civilian furloughs in fiscal year 2014. By Kellie Lunney

Business

Military Education, Sequestered

With furloughs and reduced spending levels, U.S. military academies are struggling to live up to their own standards of excellence. By Eric Katz