Jonathan Woodson, Raquel Bono: DoD Continues Military Healthcare Reform Efforts
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Jonathan Woodson, Raquel Bono: DoD Continues Military Healthcare Reform Efforts


medical health doctorThe Defense Department‘s healthcare management officials have informed the Senate Armed Services Committee of their efforts to improve medical services delivery to active-duty military personnel and their families, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Terri Moon Cronk writes Jonathan Woodson, assistant defense secretary for health affairs, told SASC members during a Tuesday hearing that DoD has adopted strategies to increase primary and specialty care access for Military Health System and Tricare beneficiaries.

“We entered 2016 confident the reforms in the Military Health System and Tricare can be further strengthened through a combination of legislative and operational reforms,” he noted to the committee.

Woodson added the survival rate of wounded soldiers in the battlefield has increased by more than 95 percent due to medical collaboration among military services branches.

Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, director of the Defense Health Agency, told senators during the meeting that DHA works to simplify its contracts in an effort to better manage care and safety of military personnel.

DHA also formed an analytics team to “assess performance of MHS using joint measures for readiness, health, quality, safety, satisfaction and cost for leadership at the headquarters and field level,” Bono added, the publication reports.

VA, DoD Launch Care Transition Effort for Service Members, Veterans
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VA, DoD Launch Care Transition Effort for Service Members, Veterans


medical health doctorThe Department of Veteran Affairs and the Defense Department have launched an interagency effort that seeks to assist the transition of service members and veterans who need complex care management as they transfer within or between the DoD and VA healthcare systems.

VA said Thursday the initiative will designate a lead coordinator for each service member’s care management team to provide guidance and assistance to the service members and their families on the benefits and services available to them.

Lead coordinators will guide service members through more than 50 DoD and VA programs under the Interagency Care Coordination Committee Community of Practice that deliver specialty care, VA said.

The department further said it expects around 1,500 DoD staff and 1,200 VA staff to be trained as lead coordinators.

“More than a decade of combat has placed enormous demands on a generation of service members and veterans – particularly those who have suffered wounds, injuries or illnesses which require a complex plan of care,” said Karen Guice, IC3 co-chair and principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.

“These individuals require the complex coordination of medical and rehabilitative care, benefits and other services to successfully transition from active duty to veteran status, and to optimally recover from their illnesses or injuries.”

The interagency initiative was enacted as policy in 2015 as a result of the efforts of the DoD-VA IC3 established in 2012.

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Scout Warrior: Navy Considers Alternative Configurations to Aircraft Carriers Through New Study
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Scout Warrior: Navy Considers Alternative Configurations to Aircraft Carriers Through New Study


Gerald-Ford-aircraft-carrierSenior U.S. Navy officials have said the service branch launched a study in 2015 to evaluate possible alternatives to aircraft carriers as it prepares to accept and operate the USS Gerald R. Ford ship later this year, Scout Warrior reported Wednesday.

Kris Osborn writes the study aims to assess new acquisition approaches, configurations and technology platforms beyond the Ford-class aircraft carriers in order to reduce costs of such vessels and address future threats.

Officials from the service branch told Scout Warrior that future carriers could be configured to launch more drones and equipped with new defense systems and high-tech sensors against hostile missile threats.

The service branch also considers a plan to replace missile platforms aboard future warships with laser weapons systems, the Navy leaders added.

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Rear Adm. Timothy White Named Cybercom Cyber National Mission Force Chief
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Rear Adm. Timothy White Named Cybercom Cyber National Mission Force Chief


Timothy White
Timothy White

Rear Adm. Timothy White, formerly director for intelligence at the U.S. Pacific Command, has been named commander of the Cyber National Mission Force as part of the U.S. Cyber Command.

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, announced White’s appointment in a Defense Department release posted Wednesday.

CNMF is one of the three mission units of Cybercom’s Cyber Mission Force and works to counter cyber threats to the country’s information technology infrastructure.

White joined the Navy as a surface warfare officer and served as a cryptologist at the National Security Agency’s operations directorate.

The Defense Superior Service Medal recipient also served as commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command from 1997 to 1999 and as director of the commander’s action group at Cybercom.

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OPM Updates Online Federal Job Application Process
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OPM Updates Online Federal Job Application Process


websiteThe Office of Personnel Management has revamped federal job application tools on the USAJobs website as part of a redesign of the government’s online recruitment portal.

OPM said Wednesday new site enhancements are meant to help agency job seekers to review requirements for a position, manage resumes and track the progress of their applications throughout the process.

“By streamlining the USAJobs process, we will also improve our ability to attract the best and brightest to apply for jobs in the federal workforce,” said acting OPM Director Beth Cobert.

OPM also plans to integrate new government web design standards created by the U.S. Digital Service and the General Services Administration‘s 18F organization into the website.

The agency is testing additional tools designed to increase the site’s usability and will unveil other upgrades on a rolling basis throughout the year.

DOE Unveils $40M Clean Energy Initiative, Energy Materials Network
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DOE Unveils $40M Clean Energy Initiative, Energy Materials Network


DOEThe Energy Department has launched a Solar National Laboratory initiative for clean energy called Energy Materials Network.

The department said Wednesday EMN received $40 million in federal funds and was introduced at a White House event co-sponsored by DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House National Economic Council.

“Manufacturing better materials for clean energy products has the potential to revolutionize whole industries, but only a small fraction of the materials investigated in the laboratory currently make it to widespread market deployment,” said DOE under secretary Franklin Orr.

EMN seeks to develop and discover clean energy materials by soliciting proposals for collaborative research and development efforts with related industries and the academe, DOE said.

DOE added it will develop four initial consortia to address specific classes of materials and related industry challenges.

The Lightweight Materials Consortium, to be led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, aims to increase vehicle fuel efficiency through specialized alloys and carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites that can be manufactured on a large scale.

The Electrocatalysis Consortium, to be overseen by Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory, will seek new ways to substitute rare and expensive platinum group metals used in hydrogen fuel cells with more accessible and economical counterparts.

The Caloric Cooling Consortium, under Ames Laboratory, aims to improve refrigerant materials.

DOE said another consortium will be introduced later this year which will focus on producing new materials to make durable and cost-effective solar photovoltaic modules.

EMN also serves as answer to the President’s Materials Genome Initiative, the department said.

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Senate Approves Lisa Disbrow as Air Force Undersecretary
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Senate Approves Lisa Disbrow as Air Force Undersecretary


Lisa Disbrow
Lisa Disbrow

Lisa Disbrow, formerly comptroller and assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force for financial management, has received Senate confirmation as the service branch’s new undersecretary, the Air Force reported Tuesday.

Disbrow will also co-chair the Air Force Council and will be in charge of the Air Force’s $120 billion annual budget, the report said.

She said she would prioritize the plan to increase the number of airmen within the service branch, invest in information technology system updates and boost the budget to further support the Defense Department and the country.

“We need a wide range of skills and a diverse group of people with different ways of thinking,” Disbrow said, according to the report.

“We need to be able to modernize [IT] so it can continue to support the growing needs of the Air Force,” she added.

Disbrow spent five years as vice director of force structure, resources and assessment on the Joint Staff and served as special adviser for policy, implementation and execution at the National Security Council from 2006 to 2007.

She also worked as a senior engineer at the National Reconnaissance Office.

President Barack Obama nominated Disbrow for the post in September 2015.

NASA, South Korea Develop Air Pollution Study Plan; James Crawford Comments
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NASA, South Korea Develop Air Pollution Study Plan; James Crawford Comments


green earth, environmentNASA and South Korea have forged a partnership to develop a study plan for air quality assessments as part of an effort to monitor air pollution with the use of aircraft, ground systems and satellites.

The research team will conduct the field study in May and June to test the quality of air in urban, rural and coastal areas of South Korea under the Korea U.S.-Air Quality program meant to build ground and space sensors and computer models for air quality evaluation, NASA said Thursday.

“KORUS-AQ is a step forward in an international effort to develop a global air quality observing system,” said James Crawford, a lead U.S. scientist on the project from NASA’s Langley Research Center.

“Both of our countries will be launching geostationary satellites that will join other satellites in a system that includes surface networks, air quality models, and targeted airborne sampling,” Crawford added.

NASA will fly the DC-8 flying laboratory to measure atmospheric data and the Hanseo King Air will fly overhead with remote-sensing instruments to make separate measurements in areas less accessible to DC-8.

Korean scientists will then gather ground and air observations with the King Air aircraft under an agreement NASA and South Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research recently inked.

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New FAA Committee to Help Agency Expand ‘Micro’ UAS Safety Requirements
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New FAA Committee to Help Agency Expand ‘Micro’ UAS Safety Requirements

Federal aviation administration (FAA)The Federal Aviation Administration is organizing an aviation rulemaking committee to recommend guidelines for the classification and operation of “micro” unmanned aircraft systems as part of the agency’s efforts to ensure safe UAS integration into the national airspace.

FAA said Wednesday the committee will explore safety standards to help the agency classify which drones should be allowed to fly over non-operators and identify ways for manufacturers to demonstrate compliance.

“Based on the comments about a ‘micro’ classification submitted as part of the small UAS proposed rule, the FAA will pursue a flexible, performance-based regulatory framework that addresses potential hazards instead of a classification defined primarily by weight and speed,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

ARC, co-chaired by Earl Lawrence and Nancy Egan, will comprise drone builders and operators, researchers, academic professionals and representatives from industry standards bodies.

The agency expects the panel to submit a final report by April 1 and plans to create a rulemaking proposal after the agency reviews the group’s recommendations.

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Army Explores Strategies, Challenges for Future Force Development
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Army Explores Strategies, Challenges for Future Force Development


army stock photoThe U.S. Army has conducted a study of emerging operational, strategic and tactical challenges as the military service aims to identify methods to prevent overmatch by adversaries through 2025 and beyond, the Army News Service reported Monday.

David Vergun writes Brig. Gen. Lee Quintas, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center’s concept development and learning directorate, said the Unified Quest study involved the analysis of the branch’s current structure as well as various transregional issues.

“We looked at our airborne brigades and realized as we did the analysis that they lacked tactical mobility, they lacked reconnaissance capability and lacked mobile protective firepower,” Quintas told a media roundtable event Friday.

Gary Phillips, a senior intelligence advisor at the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, noted at the same forum that the adoption of cyber and electronic warfare technologies by U.S. adversaries poses a threat to the country’s defense systems.

Phillips added the Army is interested in the development of a third-offset strategy to address threats.

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