Defense Secretary Robert Gates is concerned that Defense Department officials have “grown lax” in how they engage members of the media (Can you say, “Rolling Stone-Gen. Stanley McChrystal saga?”). Although McChrystal and his staffers spoke to Rolling Stone through official public affairs channels, Gates has moved to strengthen the Pentagon’s oversight mechanisms for the release of information and seems to be primarily concerned about unauthorized leakers. “We have far too many people talking to the media outside of channels, sometimes providing information which is simply incorrect, out of proper context, unauthorized, or uninformed,” Gates in a July 2 memorandum to his senior defense leadership. Such loose lips, he warns, risk the release of classified information.
The Navy needs to complete the business cases for its proposed alternatives to GPS navigation so Congress can properly oversee and fund the programs, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. The Air Force’s business case documents for its Resilient-Embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (R-EGI), on the…