Four key senators have asked the GAO to take a closer look at proposed expenditures to institute the new National Security Personnel System. GAO senior analyst Derek Stewart told Government Executive that “it is rare” for the GAO to get a review request signed by both the chairmen and ranking members of a committee and one of its subcommittees. The senators have expressed concern that the Pentagon may not have set aside adequate resources to fund the new program. The four: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) heads the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), is ranking member; Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), leads the oversight subcommittee; and Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) is ranking member. The Pentagon just last week put a slow down order out to the field.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…