Fed Times on the air tonight
March 1st, 2010 | Defense | Posted by Steve Losey
Tune into News Channel 8’s Federal News Tonight this evening to catch an interview with yours truly. I’ll be speaking about the Pentagon’s plans to end the controversial National Security Personnel System and how some Defense Department employees could end up getting hurt in the process.
Federal News Tonight is on at at 7:30 p.m. in the Washington area. My segment will air sometime between 7:40 and 7:55 p.m.
Tags: Federal News Tonight, NSPS, retained pay, television
MDA: Obama-esque logo actually three years old
February 26th, 2010 | Defense | Posted by Steve Losey
A hat tip to Ed O’Keefe over at the Washington Post for following up on this Missile Defense Agency logo foofarah. Conservative bloggers got all worked up because a new MDA logo’s color scheme and apparent “O” shape resembled the Obama campaign logo. Some of the loonier commenters online thought it was patterned after the Islamic star and crescent, echoing the “Obama is a Muslim” smear from 2008.
One blogger, Frank Gaffney, made the especially silly claim that the logo proves Obama’s decision to kill the highly flawed and, according to the Air Force chief of staff, “not … operationally viable” airborne laser program was actually a step towards Muslim Sharia law.
But there’s just one problem with that theory. MDA spokesman Rick Lehner told O’Keefe the logo was actually created in 2007:
This was a logo that was developed three years ago for our recruiting materials and our public Web site. It did not replace our official MDA logo, and of course it has no ties to any political campaign. It was done one year before the 2008 elections. So the whole thing is pretty ridiculous.
Lehner also told the Post that printing the the new insignia is cheaper for MDA — “it’s three colors as opposed to the five colors on the official logo.”
Tags: logos, Missile Defense Agency
Social networking and the hunt for Saddam
February 25th, 2010 | Defense | Posted by Steve Losey
Saddam Hussein, shortly after his capture/Slate
Slate.com is running a remarkable series this week on the hunt for Saddam Hussein, and how enterprising soldiers used their passion for social networking theory to track down the fugitive Iraqi dictator. According to Slate, the US Army didn’t start making progress on the mission until they stopped looking for the high-ranking Ba’ath party bureaucrats on the infamous deck of cards and started hunting for cousins, in-laws, and fishing buddies of the people who were hiding Hussein:
The reason social network diagrams are essential to counterinsurgency, [Army interrogator Staff Sgt. Eric] Maddox says, is that they help you predict what will happen when someone like [insurgent leader and former Hussein bodyguard] Rudman Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit gets killed or captured. By studying the relationships between potential targets, it’s possible to make an educated guess about how the network will shift — most importantly, who will move up in the ranks—when someone is eliminated. “If you know all the relationships,” Maddox said — marriages, family ties, who drinks together — “then the network does not behave irrationally.”
Army officials share social networking tips
February 24th, 2010 | Agencies Defense Information Technology | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The Army is at the forefront of social networking, offering Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages to connect the public with soldiers in uniform. And while the military enjoys broad support online — the Army’s Facebook page has 173,000 fans — that doesn’t mean it’s immune from inappropriate posts from those who take issue with the military or politics.
Policing racist, sexist or harassing comments is important to maintaining the military’s integrity, but deleting too many comments may make users suspicious of censorship, said Staff Sgt. Josh Salmons, emerging media coordinator at Fort Meade’s Defense Information School during a Feb. 24 panel at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association conference in Washington, D.C.
Salmons posts notices on social networking pages alerting users that offensive comments may be deleted. By making clear what language is tolerated and the sites’ editorial policies, agencies can keep social networking sites polite and civil, Salmons said.
And the Army’s Facebook page issues a straightforward warning to those who may want to “troll” on the page’s wall and post incendiary comments:
We do not allow graphic, obscene, explicit or racial comments or submissions nor do we allow comments that are abusive, hateful or intended to defame anyone or any organization.
Col. Kevin Arata, director of the Army’s online and social media division, said he requires Facebook posts to be suitable for his 12- and 14-year-old kids to read. And the posted policy works, he said, because he now rarely removes comments from the nearly year-old Army Facebook page.
In fact, fellow Facebook users often police the page and call out those who may have stepped over the line of polite conversation, Arata said.
You get a couple nutjobs who want to litter the page, and it’s a guy or gal who has a agenda. The fans came back and said, ‘Hey this is a page for people who like the Army. If you don’t like the Army, go somewhere else.’”
Tags: Army, IT, social networking
These days, everything’s politicized — even agency logos
February 24th, 2010 | Defense | Posted by Steve Losey
Washington Times blogger Kerry Picket yesterday noted the Missile Defense Agency’s new logo and sees a resemblance to the Obama campaign logo. Despite the similar red-and-blue color scheme, Picket is probably reading a little too much into it. But that didn’t stop Matt Drudge from taking the silliness to new heights today:
No, Matt Drudge. I don’t think the Missile Defense Agency has been taken over by Muslim hordes. But thanks for asking.
Tags: Drudge Report, logos, Missile Defense Agency
Defense finalizes interagency contracting rules
February 11th, 2010 | Agencies Defense Procurement Regulation | Posted by Elise Castelli
Earlier, I mentioned that the Government Printing Office continued to churn out key publications that enable the business of government, such as the Federal Register, despite the snow closures in the D.C. area.
Thanks to the dedicated GPO workers who braved poor roads and spotty public transportation service, Defense procurement officials — and the civilian agencies they buy from — have clear and final guidance on how to carry out interagency contracting deals.
Today’s Federal Register includes the final version of an interim rule published in July. The rule, which was mandated by the 2008 Defense authorization bill, allows DoD to buy goods and services from non-Defense-agency contracts only if:
- The non-Defense agency promises to follow DoD procurement rules.
- DoD’s undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics agrees the interagency purchase is in the department’s “best interest.”
The rule applies to purchases over the $100,000 simplified acquisition threshold.
Tags: GPO, interagency contracting
Air Force ad has rock band seeing red
February 10th, 2010 | Air Force Defense | Posted by Tim Kauffman
The Air Force pulled a recruitment ad off its website after the rock duo The White Stripes threatened to sue the agency for using one of its songs without permission.
The ad, which aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl, included an instrumental version of the Detroit band’s popular song, “Fell in Love with a Girl.” According to a statement posted on the band’s website, the song was re-recorded and used without permission. The band said it would be forced to take action to stop the ad if it wasn’t removed.
The band took particular issue with its song being used to help recruit airmen to fight in a “war that we do not support.”
The White Stripes support this nation’s military, at home and during times when our country needs and depends on them. We simply don’t want to be a cog in the wheel of the current conflict, and hope for a safe and speedy return home for our troops.
The band posted a clip to its song and a link to the Air Force ad, but the ad has since been removed from the Air Force website.
At the risk of further upsetting the band, we’re posting the official video below.
Tags: recruitment ad
Budget update: Civilian combat pay provisions still to come
February 3rd, 2010 | Defense | Posted by Steve Losey
Federal Times reported last week that the 2011 budget would propose a standardized slate of pay and benefits for federal civilians deployed to war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s apparently still coming, but it’s not here yet — the budget documents OMB released Monday contain no incentive package proposals.
The Pentagon just sent this statement to Federal Times after we inquired about the missing proposals: “We are still working on the standardized combat pay provisions package for submission into the fiscal year 2011 budget.”
Tags: budget, combat pay, Defense Department, war zone benefits
New office to shutter NSPS
January 21st, 2010 | Defense | Posted by Steve Losey
The Pentagon has less than two years to completely shut down its much-maligned National Security Personnel System, and it’s just set up a new office to do the job.
The NSPS Transition Office will oversee efforts to transition roughly 220,000 employees from the pay-for-performance system to their old personnel systems. For most, that will be the General Schedule. John James Jr., previously the executive director for logistics, maintenance and industrial operations at the Naval Sea Systems Command, will head the new transition office.
James will also oversee the design and implementation of a new department-wide performance management system that will likely resemble the one created under NSPS, as well as creating new hiring flexibilities and a new incentive fund.
The Pentagon statement emphasized that James’ office will proceed “deliberately and cautiously, without unnecessary delay, and with the least disruption to organizations, mission and workforce,” and said employees will not have their pay decreased during the transition. But about 4,000 employees now under NSPS could see their future pay raises halved as a result of the transition.
Tags: General Schedule, NSPS, pay for performance, Pentagon
Update on Bible-encoded sights
January 21st, 2010 | Defense Procurement | Posted by Elise Castelli
Update: My colleague at MarineCorpsTimes.com reports Trijicon will no longer inscribe its products with Bible verses.
The U.S. military plans to continue to use tens of thousands of gun sights that are inscribed with references to Bible passages, AP reports.
Army officials are investigating whether Trijicon, the company that makes (and scripturally inscribes) the sights, violated any procurement rules by including the markings on the aiming devices. The Army told AP the company didn’t break rules that prohibit proselytizing by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I blogged about this earlier this week and wondered whether the company did anything legally wrong, since it didn’t appear the contract permitted or prohibited the etchings. I’ll leave the ethical pondering to you dear readers.
Already, defense officials in New Zealand said their troops’ Trijicon equipment will be scrubbed of the references to avoid inciting religious tensions. Australian defense officials are still debating what to do, AP said.
Tags: Bible codes, Federal Acquisition Regulation, military equipment