Posts By Tim Watson

NASA Receives Clean Audit from Third-Party Company

NASA has released its Fiscal Year 2013 Agency Finance Report, which includes the agency’s third consecutive clean audit. The space agency received an unmodified opinion, which is the highest rating that can be given by an external auditor, according to a NASA statement. “2013 marks our third clean audit opinion in the last 11 yearsRead… Read more »

Sen. Tim Kaine Introduces Legislation to Regulate Veterans Programs

Sen. Tim Kaine has introduced legislation to Congress in order to improve the education of U.S. military veterans, according to WTOP. The Servicemember Education Reform and Vocational Enhancement Act is intended to ensure that degree or training programs for veterans deliver what they advertise. According to Kaine, more than $30 billion have been invested inRead… Read more »

DoD Updates Congress on Progress in Afghan Conflict

The Defense Department has released a report detailing the progress of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and where that conflict currently stands, according to a DoD release. Afghan security forces are now successfully providing security for their own people, fighting their own battles and holding their own against the insurgency,” said George Little, Pentagon Press Secretary.Read… Read more »

Navy Officials Say There is a Submarine Shortage

According to senior Navy officials, there are not enough fast-attack and guided-missile submarines to meet the needs of commanders around the globe. These comments came at the 2013 Naval Submarine League symposium where officials said they might have to may delay the retirement of some Los Angeles-class submarines. “The submarines are needed because they provideRead… Read more »

Army Corps of Engineers Closes Regulatory Offices

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will close its regulatory offices because of the federal shutdown. Due to the closures, the regulatory offices are unable to look at individual permit applications, pre-construction notifications for nationwide permit or regional general permit authorizations or requests for jurisdictional determinations. The nationwide permit containing pre-construction notifications must wait 45Read… Read more »

Afghan Air Force Receives 2 Lockheed Hercules Transport Aircraft

The Afghan Air Force received two new Lockheed Martin Hercules transport Aircraft on October 9 at Kabul International Airport. The planes will initially be operated with assistance from NATO advisors and the two new plane will be joined by two more at a later date. Afghan literacy rates, a lack of maintenance space, and aRead… Read more »

DoD Acts to Ensure Spare Part Pipeline

The Defense Department, in an attempt to ensure access to obsolete parts, will continue work on its web-based tracking system of spare parts. The program is called the “Diminished Manufacturing Sources Shared Data Warehouse” program and is meant to link different sources of information about obsolete parts, declining manufacturing sources and material shortages. The DefenseRead… Read more »

MITRE Begins Construction of New Tysons Campus Building

MITRE has begun construction on a new facility in McLean, Va. which will consolidate the organization’s 3,500 area employees into one location. Approximately 1,000 employees work in leased office space throughout Tysons and will be moved into the new MITRE 4 building in Fall 2016. The building will be 340,000 gross square feet and 14Read… Read more »

NOAA Creates New Website Which Details Hurricane History in the U.S.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has consolidated 170 years of hurricane data in one place, its historical hurricane tracks website. The site provides data on hurricanes that made landfall going back to 1842 and provides links to information on tropical cyclones since 1958, according to a GCN article. On the site, visitors can searchRead… Read more »

Commerce Dept Bureaus to Mostly Close if Gov’t Shuts Down

According to a Fierce Government IT article, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and many other Commerce Department bureaus will have very limited exemptions from furloughs. The only two agencies that will have significant exemptions include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at 45 percent and the Bureau of Industry and Security at 40Read… Read more »