Funding Fix. The Whites House uses a so-called autopen to affix President Barack Obama’s signature to a short-term federal budget on Nov. 18, while he is traveling, granting the Pentagon temporary funding until Dec. 16. The measure includes a continuing resolution for the Pentagon and most other federal agencies, which extends a previous resolution that expired Nov. 18 and set defense funding 1.4 percent below FY ’11 levels. The resolution is needed because Congress has not passed appropriations bills for most federal agencies in FY ’12, which began Oct. 1. The measure signed into law also contains three full-blown appropriations bills, including the Commerce-Justice-Science measure with NASA funding. The measure grants the space agency a $17.8 billion budget, more than the $16.8 billion the House initially proposed and shy of the $17.9 billion the Senate had wanted.
Protector Panetta. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says during budget-cutting deliberations “the most important element that I also have to protect is the industrial base in this country.” Speaking Nov. 17 at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., he says he needs “to be able in this country to produce our ships, to produce our submarines, to produce our planes, to produce our fighter planes, to produce our tanks, to produce what we need for the military.” He says he doesn’t “need to rely on another country.” He adds: “That means that one of the commitments I’ve made as we go through this budget process (is) we absolutely have to protect our industrial base.”
…Export Input. Panetta meets with the President’s Export Council, which is chaired by Boeing President and CEO James McNerney. “Key topics” included “veterans employment, the defense industrial base, export control reform,” according to Pentagon spokesman George Little. The council in a Nov. 16 statement calls for President Barack Obama to “continue to push forward” to “open markets to U.S. exports and expand our ability to create U.S. jobs.”
Take That! Prior to 9/11 much of the screener workforce, which was managed by the various airlines, at the nation’s airport checkpoints “lasted less than three months on the job” and their attrition rate was 400 percent, Gail Rossides, the deputy administrator at the Transportation Security Administration, says at an aviation security conference hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies last Thursday. Now 50 percent of that workforce, which has since been federalized, has been on the job five years, she says. “That is an incredible amount of tenure in this business and it’s an incredible capability to build upon to increase the security effectiveness.” Rossides’ remarks came a day after House Republicans on two committees released a report slamming TSA for its management and performance, saying that the agency has difficulty retaining its employees.
…Risk-Based Screening Here to Stay. Rossides also says that while TSA is pilot-testing risk-based, intelligence-driven screening concepts on airline pilots and passengers at airport checkpoints, the future of these programs is bright. They are “not just temporary programs,” she says. For example, the agency’s new risk-based passenger screening effort, PreCheck, which is at four airports and limited to select frequent fliers and members of several Customs and Border Protection trusted traveler programs, will expand to several more airports after Jan. 1, she says. Based on the data, the plan is to “continue to consider expanding the program to include additional travelers, additional airports and additional airlines,” Rossides says.
Software Biometrics. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency this month or next plans to solicit proposals under the Active Authentication Program, which at least initially is focused on being able to authenticate an individual working from a desktop computer by using software that examines how the person works on their computer. Algorithms can verify the person based on how they operate their mouse, how they type, and other means to quickly understand if they are permitted to work on the computer and go to certain networks, the agency says. DARPA hopes to award six to eight small contracts next year to examine the feasibility of different proposals.
LPD-22 Completes Acceptance Trials. The USS San Diego (LPD-22) successfully completed two days of acceptance trials last week, manufacturer Huntington Ingalls Industries says. The amphibious ship returned to the company’s Ingalls shipyard for finishing touches after the two days of tests in the Gulf of Mexico, and is set to join the fleet in December. The tests assessed the ship’s main propulsion, steering, communications suite and deck missions systems. Many tests, including anchor handling, ballasting/de-ballasting the well deck and ventilation systems were performed while at sea.
Supporting Small Business. General Dynamics UK demonstrates its continuing commitment to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom by hosting 70 SME partners, academics and members of the Welsh government at its end-of-year Joint Internal Research and Development (JIRAD) capability demonstration in South Wales. General Dynamics UK has worked closely with SMEs and educational establishments from all over the United Kingdom through its EDGE UK® facility to develop innovative technologies for its Ministry of Defence customers. Many of these technologies were demonstrated at the JIRAD event, the company says.
Early Retirement. Cobham plc says Andy Stevens has informed the Board that he is unable to continue as Cobham’s CEO due to the recurrence of a long term serious back injury and decided to take early retirement. Chairman John Devaney will temporarily assume the position of Executive Chairman while a search is conducted for a new CEO. Stevens will remain on the board for a period of time to assist with the management of the company until a new CEO is appointed, the company says. The Board expresses sympathy to Stevens and thanks him for his significant contribution to the company over the last eight years.
Time To Balance. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey says the military has spent the last 10 years “prevailing” in conflict, particularly in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Now it must move on to the other aspects of how if fulfills national security strategy: to prepare, prevent and deter conflict. “If we’re good at it, maybe we won’t have to do so much prevailing,” Dempsey tells the Military Writers and Editors annual conference in Virginia, on Friday. Dempsey points out that today’s service majors and staff sergeants and lower ranks really only know counterinsurgency, and need to learn the other aspects of their profession.
…Context Matters. Clarifying remarks made in testimony before Congress, Dempsey said he was not singling out the Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft when talking about looming budget cuts. Dempsey told the audience the previous question concerned sequestration, and what would happen if large budget cuts kicked in on top of the $450 billion in planned reductions. His answer was that another $600 billion or so in cuts meant no programs could be “fenced,” or protected. He was then asked what would happen with $600 billion in cuts, and he responded in that context, that perhaps not all three F-35 variants could be defended. F-35 was just an example, he said. He could just as easily said the the cuts would affect Ground Combat Vehicle, or the SSBN Sequestration would effect “everything we do.”