Further cuts to the defense budget could lead the U.S. to shift from an all-volunteer force and reinstate the draft, a key House lawmaker said Monday. In an interview with Fox News, House Armed Services Committee Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said cuts beyond the the $350 billion already agreed to in the debt ceiling agreement could [...]
More than 1.4 million contractors and consultants have security clearances, according to a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Intelligence Authorization Act of 2010 requires the ODNI to report to Congress the number of Americans who hold security clearances. As of October 2010, nearly 4.2 million Americans hold security clearances, [...]
Since the 2009 troop surge in Afghanistan, the number of U.S. troops who have had amputations has nearly doubled as a result of mines and roadside-bombs, according to an Army surgeon general report released Tuesday. Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker commissioned the 87-page report, examining dismounted complex blast injuries. The injury pattern affects [...]
A dead NASA satellite falling to Earth will not pass over North America during its re-entry into the atmosphere, the space agency said. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is expected to enter the Earth’s atmosphere Friday afternoon, with all but 26 pieces expected to burn up upon re-entry. “The satellite will not be passing over [...]
The House defeated a bill that would fund the government past Sept. 30 on Wednesday, raising fears of a possible government shutdown. The bill would have provided $1.043 trillion to fund the government, in line with the debt ceiling deal reached in August. The bill was voted down 230-195, with 48 conservative Republicans joining Democrats [...]
The Federal Reserve will move its balance sheet more heavily toward long-term holdings in an effort to keep long-term interest rates down and help the housing sector, it was announced Wednesday. The Fed said that, by June 2012, it will sell $400 billion in short-term Treasury securities. The Fed will then use the proceeds to [...]
As the federal government tries to cut its deficit, a new report from the Justice Department’s watchdog found some old spending habits die hard. “We found the Department (of Justice) spent $16 on each of the 250 muffins served at an August 2009 legal conference in Washington,” said an inspector general report. In a 148-page [...]
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will meet Wednesday to consider a recent report on wasteful spending in contracts for the wars in Afghanistan in Iraq. In a 240-page report released in August, the Commission on Wartime Contracting detailed between $31 billion and $60 billion in waste, including projects that either went unfinished [...]
A spike in satellite costs during the previous decade was not caused by industry consolidation, according to a General Accountability Office report. Rather, costs went up because of other market factors such as demand and availability of bandwidth. The length of task orders also helped to drive up prices. In its 53-page report, GAO found [...]
The White House has responded to critics of its open government initiatives by releasing a status report, claiming it has made progress in informing the public. In its 34-page report, the White House acknowledged it needs to do more work in creating a more open government, but hit back at claims citizens are not being [...]