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Rapid Fire Feb. 27, 2013: Chuck Hagel’s Weak Confirmation

Feb 27, 2013 10:30 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff

As expected Republican Senators softened their opposition to allow Chuck Hagel’s nomination as US Secretary of Defense. The 58-41 roll call stands in contrast with the entirely smooth confirmations of Leon Panetta (100-0) by the previous Congress, or more recently John Kerry by the 113th (94-3).
Whereas Robert Gates used the freedom coming with retirement to sound the alarm on low defense spending by NATO European members, Panetta is leaving with a whisper.
Congressman Randy Forbes [R-VA, Chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee] is working on legislation that would allow the US Navy to shift money to ship repairs within the current Continuing Resolution. The Hill.

The US DoD’s weapon systems acquisition continues to rank high in the GAO’s high risk list. They would like to see prioritized portfolios to help make budgetary tradeoffs. This suggestion turned into guidance from the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) which is probably lost somewhere in the services. Of course it makes sense to prioritize programs, but who wants to see their baby officially designated as just a nice-to-have? Incidentally the high risk GAO reports are now in our Google Drive memo repository.

A recent report by security firm Mandiant on spying cyber-attacks originating from Chinese military buildings got enough press to elicit an official denial. If anything, that reports downplays the quantity of such attempts, as it shows very few attacks on countries outside of the US. It is highly unlikely that China would not try to equally snoop on sensitive defense material in Taiwan, Japan, Russia, India or Europe. Mandiant’s report is probably reflecting where most of its customers are located (the company did not get back to us in time to confirm) and Der Spiegel reports that groups such as EADS or ThyssenGrupp, as well as the German government, have faced hundreds of attacks originating from China.

The Pentagon released its implementation plan [PDF] for commercial mobile devices. It tasks DISA with the creation of a Mobility Program Management Office (PMO) to centralize the definition of guidelines for secure classified and unclassified mobile communications capabilities. The coming end of MILSPEC bricks?

EADS sales for 2012 [PDF] grew by a respectable 15% to 56.5 billion euros (about $74B), though that is less than Boeing. Airbus Military revenue was down by 15% to 2.1 billion euros, Cassidian was down by 1%, while Eurocopter and Astrium grew by 16%/17%.

Australia’s KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft reached Initial Operational Capability (IOC) while its Vigilare Command and Control system matured to Final Operational Capability (FOC). AUSDoD.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said [in French] the intervention in Mali had costed a little more than 100 million euros (~$130M) so far. See also this parliamentary hearing [in French] from Feb. 6.

A Florida couple and a USAF procurement program manager from the Foreign Materials Acquisition Support Office (FMASO) at Hill AFB, UT, pleaded guilty in a scheme involving $180K paid in bribes.

Categories: Africa - Other, Australia & S. Pacific, China, Corporate Financials, Daily Rapid Fire, EADS, France, Issues - Political, IT - Cyber-Security, IT - Networks & Bandwidth, Leadership & People, Scandals & Investigations, USA

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Rapid Fire Feb. 27, 2013: Chuck Hagel’s Weak Confirmation

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