AIR FORCE CHIEF SCIENTIST TALKS ABOUT FUTURE

Dr. Mica Endsley assumed her new duties and responsibilities as the 34th Air Force chief scientist June 3 in support of senior leaders and Airmen across the service. Endsley is the first woman to serve in this position. (U.S. Air Force graphic-Corey Parrish)

FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE
AF chief scientist addresses future 
Posted 7/11/2013 
by Staff Sgt. David Salanitri
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

7/11/2013 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force chief scientist addressed members of the Air Force Association about the Global Horizons study, which looks into the near and long-term application of science and technology in the force.

Dr. Mica Endsley, who was recently appointed as the 34th Air Force chief scientist, focused her talk around the future of air, space, cyber, and command and control.

"If we presume the future is going to look like today, I think we're going to be sorely mistaken," Endsley said. "The future environment in the next decade has some really significant potential threats that we need to be aware of and thinking of."

In the space environment, Endsley emphasized, the Air Force is not going to be the only player in the future.

"In space, we're not going to be operating with impunity," Endsley said. "It's going to be a much more congested, competitive and contested environment."

Speaking about air operations, Endsley noted that though the Air Force has enjoyed air superiority in recent operations, this may not always be the case as other nations use science and technology to continually develop their air forces.

"In air operations, I think over the past few decades, we've enjoyed pretty good air superiority in a lot of the theaters we operated in -- that's not necessarily going to be the case in the future," she said.

Endsley also suggested the potential for an attack on command and control capabilities.

"We believe our command and control and (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) operations are going to be targeted," she said. "That's something we're going to need to protect against very significantly."

Endsley emphasized the importance of protecting cyberspace and Air Force cyber capabilities from threats.

Cyber "is the thing that underlines everything that we're doing," Endsley said. "It's a very significant source of concern in terms of potential vulnerabilities."

As Endsley spoke, she stressed the importance of the ever-changing environment in which the Air Force operates in, and how the global horizons study identifies these future changes.

Endsley also made note that a key component of of Air Force efforts is to use science and technology to enable Airmen to carry out their duties more efficiently.

"One of our goals here is to develop technology that enhances the capability of our Airmen," she said. "My job is to enable our people to do their job effectively."

As Endsley concluded, a question from the audience brought up the impacts of sequestration, and how it is impacting in the Air Force.

In a field that is primarily comprised of civilian Airmen, Endsley said that with furloughs starting, a large part of her workforce will be out of the office, missing technical meetings that are vital to her researchers.

Furlough is "having chilling effects," she said. "If you look at who the researchers are in the Air Force, they are disproportionately civilians."

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL SAYS CONTRACTORS WILL BE HIT BY FURLOUGHS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Defense Contractors Will Share Burdens of Furloughs, Hagel Says
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2013 - The Defense Department is reviewing all of its contracts, and DOD contractors will share the burden of spending cuts, including the furloughs facing the department's civilian workforce, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told senators today.


Hagel testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense Subcommittee this morning.

"Contractors are part of any institution," he said. "We need them -- certain skills, certain expertise."

DOD Comptroller Robert F. Hale, who accompanied Hagel, told the committee that about 700,000 defense contractors work throughout the department. And they are in for some changes, he added.

"The furlough process does include contractors," Hagel told the Senate panel. "It includes companies, it includes acquisitions, it includes contracts."

The department is taking a $37 billion sequestration spending cut in fiscal year 2013, which ends Sept. 30. "The majority of that is going to come out of contractors -- about $2 billion will come out of furloughs," Hale said. That means a drop in the number of contractors in the department.

"I don't know yet how much, because the year isn't over, but I think there will be a sharp drop," the comptroller said.

The senators asked about contractors because of newspaper reports about alleged National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden receiving a $200,000 annual salary. Contractors generally receive more in salary than DOD civilian employees, Hale said.

"Whether or not a contractor or a civilian is cheaper or better really depends on the circumstances," he explained. "There are some cases where we simply don't have the skills in the Department of Defense that we need, or it's a short-term job and it wouldn't make any sense to grow them."

If it is a long-term job, he added, it makes more sense to hire a civil servant.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL WILL RETURN PART OF SALARY DURING DOD FURLOUGHS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Hagel to Return Part of Salary During Furloughs, Spokesman Says
By Amaani Lyle
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2013 - In solidarity with the Defense Department's 800,000 civilian employees facing furloughs, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he will voluntarily return part of his salary to the U.S. Treasury, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said here today.

Though furlough-exempt as a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed official, Hagel will commit to partial forfeiture over the 14-week furlough period, Little said at a Pentagon news conference.

Little said he hopes the recent change reducing the projected furloughs from 22 to 14 days brings some relief to the workforce, and he added that employees will remain informed of any further changes.

"We are obliged to give adequate notice to our civilian employees. ... This is not something [in which] you get a notice one day and are furloughed the next," he said. "We understand that we need to take great care with our civilian workforce."

Little also reported that officials are reviewing analytics to assess the number of civilian employees they expect to have to furlough in the coming weeks.

Categories of exemption, he said, include civilians serving in a war zone, foreign nationals protected by the status of forces of agreement and other categories.

"This has been a troubling time for them and for our uniformed employees too, even though they're exempt from furlough," Little said.

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT SAYS SEQUESTRATION FURLOUGHS BEGIN IN APRIL

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
If Sequestration Triggers, Furloughs Begin in Late April
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2013 - If sequestration is triggered next week, unpaid furloughs for civilian Defense Department employees will start in late April, Pentagon officials said here today.

Sequestration is a provision in budget law that will trigger major across-the-board spending cuts March 1 unless Congress agrees on an alternative.

DOD Comptroller Robert F. Hale told reporters at a Pentagon news conference that if sequestration happens, the department will cut virtually every program and investment, and that almost all civilian employees will feel the pain.

Jessica L. Wright, the acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said that sequestration and the continuing resolution -- a temporary funding measure for the federal government that's set to expire March 27 -- also will have a devastating on military personnel.

"But on our civilians, it will be catastrophic," she added.

"Everything is going to be affected, should sequestration go in effect," Wright said. "That's a guarantee. I think that everybody will be impacted by this action. And I think it's incumbent upon us to try to ease that where we can."

The department already has taken actions to alleviate some of the pressures. DOD has slowed spending, instituted a hiring freeze, ordered layoffs for temporary and term employees and cut back base operations and maintenance.

If sequestration hits, this pain will seem minor by comparison. Operations and maintenance funding is the only way to provide the $47 billion in required cuts for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Within a year, two-thirds of the Army combat brigade teams will be at unacceptable levels of readiness, Hale said. Most Air Force units not deployed will be at an unsatisfactory readiness level by the end of the year. Navy and Marine Corps readiness also suffer, Hale said.

The process of furloughing civilians began today, with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta sending notification to Congress. "That starts a 45-day clock ticking, and until that clock has run out, we cannot proceed with furloughs," Hale explained.

If sequester happens, each employee will be notified. "That starts a 30-day clock -- waiting period -- before we can take any action," the comptroller said. "The bottom line is furloughs would not actually start for DOD employees until late April, and we certainly hope that ... in the interim, Congress will act to de-trigger sequestration."

The vast majority of DOD's almost 800,000 civilian employees will be furloughed, Wright said. DOD civilians in a war zone and political appointees who are confirmed by the Senate will not be furloughed. Nonappropriated fund employees and local national employees will not be affected.

Limited exceptions will be made for the purposes of safety of life and health, Wright said, such as firefighters and police. And if a military hospital has only one neonatal nurse, for example, that person could be exempted, she added.

While military personnel accounts are exempt from sequestration, there will be second- and third-order effects, Wright said. For example, hours at exchanges and commissaries could be affected, and family programs could be reduced or cut. It is unclear at this point how DOD Education Activity schools will be affected.

The spending cuts will affect military health care, as some 40 percent of the personnel working in the system are civilians. Elective surgeries could be delayed or eliminated, and costs cannot be shifted to the TRICARE military health plan, because that program also will be hit by cuts.

Affected employees would be furloughed for 22 discontinuous days -- 176 hours -- between implementation and the end of fiscal 2013, with no more than 16 furlough hours per pay period.

Fiscal 2013 is just the beginning of a decade of budgetary problems, Hale said.

"The Budget Control Act actually requires that the caps on discretionary funding beyond fiscal '13 be lowered for defense by $50 billion to $55 billion a year," he said. "If those come to pass, then we will have to look at a new defense strategy. That would be the first thing that we'd do."

The new strategy would accept more risk and also be based on having a smaller military.

For now, officials "devoutly would wish for some budget stability right now," Hale said. "And I think it would benefit the department and the nation."

MEMO FROM SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PANETTA OUTLINES POSSIBLE SEQUESTRATION EFFECTS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Panetta Memo Describes Possible Sequestration Effects

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 2012 - While many remain hopeful that Congress and the administration will reach a deal that avoids sequestration, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has issued a memo describing the potential implications of going over the fiscal cliff.

Planning for the effects of an across-the-board cut in defense spending as part of the Budget Reduction Act of 2011 "is only prudent," said DOD officials. Under the law, the reductions are due to take place Jan. 2, 2013.

Panetta said it is too early to assess what effects sequestration will have. He did say that it will not affect military personnel or military end strength as President Barack Obama announced his intent to exempt the military personnel accounts from sequestration last summer.

The secretary did clarify the potential implications of sequestration in his memo.

"If it occurs, sequestration will reduce our budgetary resources for the remainder of the fiscal year," the memo says. "These cuts, while significant and harmful to our collective mission as an agency, would not necessarily require immediate reductions in spending."

There is no threat of a government shutdown because of sequestration, Panetta said in the memo.

"Everyone will show up for work on January 3, 2013, and continue to drive on," said Army Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

The memo states that there will be no immediate civilian personnel actions such as furloughs.

"Should we have to operate under reduced funding levels for an extended period of time, we may have to consider furloughs or other actions in the future," Panetta said in the memo. "But let me assure you that we will carefully examine other options to reduce costs within the agency before taking such actions."

If the department does need to take these actions, affected employees will receive all appropriate notifications, the secretary noted.

The Defense Department is already reducing its budget by $487 billion over 10 years. The Budget Control Act calls for a further $500 billion in cuts at DOD unless Congress and the administration pass a new law averting it.

"Sequestration was never intended to be implemented and there is no reason why both sides should not be able to come together and prevent this scenario," Panetta wrote.