Rapid Fire July 27, 2012: DoD’s Civilian Workforce

* Acting US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness and Force Management Frederick Vollrath testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee on the timeline of announcements leading to the reduction of the Pentagon’s civilian workforce to comply with sequestration. A first deadline is around September 21st, less than 2 months from now. Yet the Pentagon maintains its focus on rolling back sequestration, a matter that is out of its hands and is for Congress to address. This is starting to look like a reckless bet, if DoD is actually not planning for the sequester that is. Video abstract of the hearing at the bottom of this entry. * This comes just as the GAO states that it “remains concerned that DOD lacks critical information it needs to effectively plan for its workforce requirements.” * Michael Sheehan, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, said at the Aspen Security Forum that he’s watching al Qaeda affiliates try to gain ground across different parts of the Middle East and northern Africa. He’s seeing promising results in Yemen but is “very concerned” by the situation in Mali where there are now large swathes of “completely ungoverned space.” […]