Defense Systems

Army goes open source with forensic analysis tool

ARL has released Dshell, which it has used for five years to understand compromises of DOD networks, to GitHub.

Defense Systems

Software bugs causing turbulence for F-35 program

Flaws caused operational tests to be scrubbed and some fixes pushed down the road in order to try and keep the program on schedule.

Threats

AFRICOM Commander Wants Full Counterinsurgency Plan for Boko Haram

Gen. David Rodriguez wants to help Nigeria, but Abuja needs to ask and the U.S. needs a plan. By Kevin Baron and Molly O'Toole

Science & Tech

Obama Calls for Regulations After Drone Crashes Near White House

The president said the country needs a new legal framework for managing the growing number of commercial drones in America's skies.

Threats

The US Doesn’t Know How Secure Its Border Is

Without one critical metric, it's hard to make accurate statements on how efficient the U.S. Border Patrol is -- or how a new bill would improve border security.

Policy

Rubio Doubles Down on NSA Surveillance Ahead of 2016

The Florida Republican and national security hawk is calling for a permanent extension of the legal framework that allows the NSA to collect bulk U.S. phone metadata. By Dustin Volz

Ideas

Our Overreaction to Terrorist Attacks Like Paris Is Only Making Things Worse

The terrorists’ goal is to spread irrational fear. Our intelligence professionals shouldn’t be helping them. By Michael German

Business

Peeling the Onion Back on the Pentagon’s Special Operations Budget

When compared to the Pentagon’s $560 billion budget, U.S. Special Operations Command’s share is relatively small, but not as tiny as officials say. By Marcus Weisgerber

Policy

Obama To Propose Pentagon Spending Boost in 2016

President Barack Obama will send Congress a $585 billion defense spending plan on Monday, that would boost the Pentagon budget to levels not seen since 2012. By Marcus Weisgerber

Policy

Senators Reintroduce Sick Leave Bill for Disabled Vets

The bill, which has bipartisan support, grants sick leave to first-year federal workers who are vets with a service-connected disability rating of at least 30 percent. By Kellie Lunney

Policy

The Netanyahu Disaster

The manner, execution and overall tone-deafness of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recent ploy suggest that he doesn’t understand how to manage Israel’s relationships in Washington. By Jeffrey Goldberg

Science & Tech

Researchers Develop Program That Can Read Malware’s Mind

The future of malware detection are analyzers that compute malware “intent.” By Patrick Tucker

Threats

Is This the Twilight of Saudi Power?

As world leaders pay their respects to King Abdullah, they could be observing the end of an era in the Middle East. By Brian Katulis

Business

VA Announces Major Department Realignment

By June 30, the Veterans Affairs Department plans to streamline its fragmented bureaucracy into a single, five-region national framework. By Kellie Lunney

Science & Tech

Report Finds VA's Monitoring System Is Not Doing Its Job

The VA's inspector general found that a new system designed to keep close watch on the agency’s IT initiatives needs some monitoring of its own. By Hallie Golden

Threats

FBI Announces Charges in Alleged Russian Spy Ring

Three men were charged with spying and recruiting informants for information on U.S. economic and trade activity. By Matt Berman and Lauren Fox

Defense Systems

Board calls for $125B in DOD spending cuts over five years

The Defense Business Board's plan targets renegotiated contracts, early retirements and IT optimization as sources for the savings.

Defense Systems

Air Force adds funds for developing better GPS equipment

Rockwell Collins gets a $21.8 million modification to speed up development of more powerful, M-Code-capable receivers.