The leading candidate to replace Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the outgoing Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), is Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Army Intelligence Lt. Gen. Mary Legere. However, she may have a tough confirmation battle on her hands, thanks to longstanding support for a troubled Army intelligence platform, the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A). The system has been under development for more than a decade, has cost taxpayers approximately $6 billion, and is failing in its primary functions.
Murkowski’s Folly
The first rule of communications is crafting an effective message.
A March 11, 2014 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times by former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt provided a unique glimpse into how messaging used by politicians can shift over time. The editorial detailed the push in the 1990s by former Senators Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to build a 38-mile road connecting the Alaskan towns of King Cove and Cold Bay. Opposed by the Clinton administration, the idea was to expedite the movement of seafood from the salmon canneries in King Cove to the airport in Cold Bay for distribution.
Murkowski’s Folly
The first rule of communications is getting the message right. A March 11, 2014 op-ed by former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt appearing in the Los Angeles Times provided a unique glimpse into how messaging used by politicians can shift over time. The editorial detailed the push in the 1990s by former Alaska Senators […]
Defense Bill: Good, Bad, and Ugly
As taxpayers peruse the Department of Defense (DOD) section of the monolithic Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (H.R. 3547) that funds the federal government through fiscal year (FY) 2014, they will find mixed blessings. The positive news is that the budget for the Army’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A) was slashed by 58.5 percent, from $267,214,000 […]
Problem Identified, Solution Needed
“The problem isn’t that we don’t know what the problem is, the problem is that we [members of Congress] don’t act,” Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) stated in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on January 9, 2014. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Tom Schatz echoed Sen. Coburn’s comments in his testimony […]
A Bittersweet Victory for CAGW
Ronald Reagan once said, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!” A corollary to that notion is that in the rare circumstance when a government agency or program disappears, it does not necessarily die. Such is the case with the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), a missile defense system long opposed by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).
To Boldly Go Where No Congress Has Gone Before
The 113th Congress is headed toward a very humble place in the record books by passing the fewest number of bills signed into law since that statistic was first tracked more than 70 years ago. Thus far, the House and Senate have passed only 15 bills, including one all-important piece of legislation that specified “the size of precious-metal blanks that will be used in the production of the National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coins.” The current record low of 220 bills was set in the 112th Congress.
New Voice Opposes MEADS
As members of Congress reconvene following their long summer break, one of their most immediate tasks will be to pass legislation to fund the federal government beyond the current fiscal year, which ends at the end of the month. One issue that is likely to crop up (yet) again is funding for the Medium Extended […]
DCGS May Need to be Deep-Sixed
The Army’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A), a network-based tool intended to provide real-time access to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, invokes a strong reaction from both its proponents and detractors. According to Army brass, DCGS-A represents a breakthrough in intelligence support capability, while users have called it a “huge, bloated, excessively expensive money pit.”
Mixed News on Defense
The summer appropriations process for the Department of Defense (DOD), beginning with the initial authorizing bills, has thus far brought a mixed bag of news. On the positive side, the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directs the Pentagon to look for commercial products capable of performing functions currently under the purview […]