bill lynn

There was a lot of encouraging rhetoric for defense reformers from President Obama in his press conference tonight. Asked about the politics of cutting defense, he didn’t back down, and instead cited “uniform acknowledgement” that the procurement process is broken, citing his former presidential rival, Sen,John McCain (R-Ariz.), for political cover. He derided the idea [...]

Abu Muqawama, reading a story from The Washington Post about the cost overruns of the Army’s/SAIC’s/Boeing’s Future Combat Systems, remarks:
SAIC’s executive vice president for government affairs, Arnold Punaro, is rumored to be the next Army Secretary. It is my understanding that Punaro is a great American, but frankly, I do not see how his potential [...]

I keep getting sidetracked on this, but Colin Clark at DOD Buzz had a provocative post the other day about how President Obama has already missed his chance at reforming the Pentagon budget. Basically, the trouble all began by leaving Bob Gates in place as defense secretary. Compounding the problem is time:
Obama’s administration does not [...]

The Senate just confirmed Bill Lynn as the next deputy secretary of defense on a 93-4 vote. Earlier today, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called on the former Raytheon lobbyist to withdraw his nomination, but didn’t place a hold on Lynn’s bid. Obstacle cleared, nominee confirmed. Door revolved.

Word coming from the Hill: Bill Lynn, the former top Raytheon lobbyist tapped to become deputy secretary of defense, will finally get his floor vote in the Senate at 5 p.m. following three hours of scheduled debate. Reuters reported earlier today that Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa.) is going to make a lengthy statement but not [...]

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just said on the Senate floor that he hopes to move on the nomination of former Raytheon lobbyist Bill Lynn for deputy secretary of defense tomorrow. Still no agreement on a full floor vote.

Congratulations to Michele Flournoy, whom the Senate just confirmed as the new undersecretary of defense for policy; Jeh Charles Johnson, whom the Senate just confirmed as Pentagon general counsel; and Robert Hale, whom the Senate just confirmed as Pentagon comptroller. All of these newly-minted senior Pentagon officials testified together in a joint confirmation hearing on [...]

Great piece from CQ’s Alex Knott. Apparently defense contractors spent $340,000 last year throwing events to honor Defense Secretary Bob Gates:
Among them were six companies that accounted for more than a quarter of the Pentagon’s procurement budget during the 2008 fiscal year. These groups, which spent $125,000 hosting events honoring Gates, received a total of [...]

Well, this doesn’t look too good, does it? A recent lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, Mark Patterson, is in line to become chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, ABC news reports. And more former lobbyists also are expected to be filling some key administration jobs as well. All this seems to fly in the [...]

There are lots of things for Defense Secretary Bob Gates to tell the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning during his first round of testimony as President Obama’s Pentagon chief. What’s up with the Iraq troop drawdown and the Afghanistan strategy reviews? How can the United States responsibly close Guantanamo and overhaul detentions and interrogations [...]