Transparency in budgeting is critical. But the Air & Space Forces Association hopes to shine a light on where the DoD budget funding actually lands. The association says that there is money that passes through the Air Force but is never used by or influenced by the department. In 2023, that amounted to $40.2 billion, or 17.1% of the overall department of the Air Force budget.
Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Kaiali’i Kahele (D-Hawaii) introduced the bipartisan Defense Budget Transparency Act of 2022 (HR 7475) April 26. The measure would require the Pentagon to fund an independent study of pass-through spending and its impact on the Air Force, Space Force, and the perception across government and the public.
“Taxpayers and policy leaders need to know how their money is being spent and apportioned,” said Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright (Ret.), president of the Air & Space Forces Association. “The pass-through distorts how the Congress and the American people view and understand Pentagon spending, a practice that hides funding from other agencies in a budget that has, for the past 30 years, been starved of the resources needed to maintain modern and ready Air and Space Forces.”
Indeed, the $40.2 billion in pass-through spending is almost double what the department will invest this year in the entire Space Force enterprise; over the past three decades, total pass-through spending surpassed $750 billion.
“While most in Congress or the Pentagon believe the Air Force, Army, and Navy budgets are roughly equal, the reality is that the Air Force consistently gets the smallest share of the Pentagon budget allocation. At the same time combatant commanders continue to demand much more of what Airmen and Guardians bring to worldwide joint war fighting requirements.”
The U.S. Air Force today has eight air fleets averaging 50 years old or older and two—the KC-135 and B-52—that exceeds 60. Its fighter aircraft, whose performance characteristics impose the greatest wear and tear, now average 31 years old, and four out of five are old generations of aircraft first designed in the 1970s. When perception can shape future realities, it’s important to make sure facts are accurately represented in the Pentagon’s budget.
“The Defense Budget Transparency Act of 2022 is a critical step toward clarifying our nation’s investment in its Air and Space Forces,” Wright said. “The resulting report will go far to reveal opportunities to strengthen America’s security in the face of burgeoning Chinese and Russian threats.”
Layoffs Impacting the Cleared Industry
Robinhood
Amateur-hour investing was all the rage during the early days of the pandemic, and the Robinhood app benefited from that trend. But as the pandemic-accelerated traffic dwindles, Robinhood cut about 300 employees at the end of April. It’s a good reminder that with crazy growth numbers (Robinhood went from 700 employees to 3,800 in a span of two years), there’s often a bit of a boomerang effect to bring everything under control.
CEO Vlad Tenev said, “we determined that making these reductions to Robinhood’s staff is the right decision to improve efficiency, increase our velocity, and ensure that we are responsive to the changing needs of our customers.”
Hiring impacting the Cleared Industry
DCS Corporation
DCS Corporation has completed an expansion of its Nashua, New Hampshire facility. The extended space is designed to support the continued growth of DCS’s decade-long presence in the Nashua-area supporting U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Army customers.
“DCS is thrilled to build upon our presence in the Nashua area,” commented DCS CEO, Jim Benbow. “Our innovative lab and office spaces encourage and facilitate collaboration as we provide ever-evolving software development support to our DoD customers.”
The Nashua office buildout modernizes and links existing space and captures the space in-between. A newly constructed large planning area will accommodate collaborative, in-person and virtual product development planning for DCS’s multiple agile teams to include the Support Aircraft Agile Efforts. The facility also includes formal and informal collaboration areas and new innovative lab space, as well as café-style work areas for transiting employees and DCS customers.
Cleared Employer at Work: CISA
Are you up for a challenge? As technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, the demand for an experienced and qualified workforce to protect our nation from cybersecurity risks has never been greater. That’s why we need you to take on the challenge and help make a meaningful impact. Submit your resume.
Opportunity to Watch
Leidos has been awarded two internationally competed contracts by the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) to enhance the Alliance’s ballistic missile defense (BMD) capabilities. The two single-award, firm fixed price contracts have a total estimated value of $90M and each contract has a four-year base period of performance with up to four optional maintenance years.
“We are honored to have the opportunity to continue our support to the NATO BMD Program,” said Mike Rickels, Leidos Senior Vice President of C4ISR Solutions. “Our international team brings over 20 years of expertise in partnering with NATO, and we look forward to contributing to the enhancement of the Alliance’s BMD capability.”
Under the contracts, Leidos will lead an international team to define the NATO BMD Architecture, develop requirements for the NATO Command and Control (C2) systems, integrate and test the C2 systems, and operate, maintain and upgrade the NATO BMD Integration Test Bed (ITB).
Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the NCI Agency delivers advanced Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) technology in support of Alliance decision-makers and missions, including addressing new threats and challenges.
