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.
Browsing: Defense
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…
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…
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.”
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…
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…
If a company inscribes a rifle with code from the Bible, but is neither required to nor prohibited to take such an action by the contract, have any rules been broken? That’s the question I have after reading this ABC News report about rifle aiming equipment manufacturer, Trijicon, inscribing its military scopes with references to New Testament passages about Jesus Christ. The article suggests the inscribed scriptural references violate military rules banning proselytizing in the war zone. The rules exist out of concern U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan would be viewed as a new Crusade. But it is not…
What do “The Jetsons” and “The Transformers” have in common? DARPA! USA Today reports that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for ideas to develop a flying car, not unlike those seen on the 1960s cartoon show, the Jetsons. The project, dubbed “Transformer (TX),” which USA Today muses is reminiscent of the 1980s cartoon where robots morphed into vehicles and saved the day, will: Demonstrate a 1 to 4 person transportation vehicle that can drive and fly, thus enabling the warfighter to avoid water, difficult terrain, and road obstructions as well as IED and ambush threats. The vehicle…
Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen was hard at work judging the first annual Commandant’s Chili Cookoff on Dec. 10. It was all for a deliciously good cause: raising funds for the National Capital Area Combined Federal Campaign, according to Allen’s blog. And from his comments there, it sounds like it was tough: However, as much as I tried, I couldn’t match the intensity of Command Master Chief [Petty Officer Steven] Cantrell who obviously has grasp of the intricacies of fine chili. Ultimately, Allen chose U.S. Army Col. Kevin Hawkins’ steaming batch of Airborne Ranger Chili as the “Commandant’s Choice.” Hawkins’…
Sony Corp. lately has been trying to drum up interest in its PlayStation 3 video game console by emphasizing its versatility — such as the ability to play video games, DVDs and high-definition Blu Ray discs and browse the Internet — under the slogan “It only does everything.” But CNN is reporting that the Pentagon has come up with a use Sony may never have imagined: Link more than 2,500 consoles together to create a massive supercomputer. CNN said the military is shopping for 2,200 new PS3s to complement a supercomputer cluster already running on 336 PS3s. The key to the supercomputer is the PS3’s…