Pentagon says intel contractors went too far [Associated Press]
U.S. reveals skyrocketing cost of intelligence- gathering since 9/11 attacks by Ken Dilanian [Los Angeles Times]
New questions on stability of cement in gulf oil well before explosion by Steven Mufson [The Washington Post]
Contractor compliance crunch fuels boom at outsourced accounting firm by Bryant Ruiz Switzky [Washington Business Journal]
Volcker on His 'Rule'— Keep It Broad by Deborah Solomon [The Wall Street Journal]
GAO audit: Public records mishandled by National Archives by Lisa Rein [The Washington Post]
Army Buying Needs ‘Big Bang’ by Colin Clark [DoD Buzz]
'Deadly' report details federal waste by Ed O'Keefe [Federal Eye]
Alcoholic energy drink taken off Haggen shelves by Daniel Berman [The Western Front]
One of the little known but critical pieces of the current dorked up procurement fiasco is the elimination of the weapon designer in favor of the "system engineering process". Weapons designers were very visible and vocal members of the engineering community. There's no way someone like Kelly Johnson would put up with the way we currently drag out the design of weapons. He must have been spinning in his grave while the USAF was congratulating themselves on the fact they were able to drag out F-22 development for 25 years.
System engineering is nothing more than Soviet style "design by committee" approach. It is based on the premise that a process can replace the judgement and experience of a person. You'd have to be a moron to believe any of it, but yet again, because it has been implemented at a huge level, it has developed a life of its own, and no one goes back and says, "hey, what we were doing before worked better, so why are we doing this now?" It is another example of how none of us is as stupid as all of us.
Posted by: Dfens | Nov 01, 2010 at 11:12 PM