Government Matters

Eric Crusius, senior counsel at Holland & Knight, discusses changes to GSA schedule contracts and the 2017 NDAA’s limits to lowest price technically acceptable.

Sean Carberry, defense reporter at FCW, discusses the future of surveillance powers amid controversy surrounding the White House.

Pamela Walker, senior director for federal public sector technology at the IT Industry Council, discusses the search for signals on IT policy from the White House (originally broadcast on March 6, 2017).

On Wednesday, some of the Pentagon's top brass met in Washington for the eighth-annual McAleese Defense Programs Conference.

Many of the speeches during that day-long forum shared a common refrain: A culture of continuing resolutions and budget caps have made military readiness a significant challenge.

The Defense Department is poised to see a significant boost in spending under the Trump administration. The White House called for a $54 billion increase to the DoD budget in 2018.

Government Matters host Francis Rose spent the day at the McAleese Conference and discussed readiness priorities with some of the DoD's top officials.

This program includes excerpts from interviews with:

-Gen. Robert B. Neller, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps

-Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army

-Adm. Williams F. Moran, vice chief of U.S. Naval Operations

-Gen. Stephen W. Wilson, vice chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force

Col. Douglas Macgregor, USA (Ret.), executive vice president at Burke-Macgregor Group, discusses the difference between the interdependency in the military and interoperability.

Tony Capaccio, defense reporter for Bloomberg News, discusses how Lockheed Martin plans to trim costs of the F-35 fighter jet.

Katherine Kidder, fellow in the Military, Veterans and Society program at the Center for a New American Security, discusses the future of the All-Volunteer Force in the military.

Paul Morris, acting chief information security officer at the Transportation Security Administration, discusses the major cybersecurity challenges he's facing and the cyber workforce he's looking to build.

Sonny Hashmi, managing director of global government at Box and former CIO at the General Services Administration, discusses why the Trump administration should prioritize modernization of legacy I.T.

Ronald Marks, chair of the Intelligence Program at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security, discusses where the Trump administration is placing its bets on cyber.

State Department chief information officer Frontis Wiggins discussed the push to cut costs at the agency, reduce duplicative IT, and improve their FITARA Scorecard.

Rob Thomas, chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, detailed his effort to stand up an IT demand management office.

1105 Media chief content officer Anne Armstrong, Government Executive senior editor Frank Konkel, and Military.com managing editor Brendan McGarry joined Francis for this edition of the Federal Beat. They discussed the White House budget outline, an executive order on agency reorganization, and IT initiatives at the departments of State and Veterans Affairs.

Kevin Plexico, vice president at Deltek, discusses how the budget will impact industry.

Jessica Klement, legislative director at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, discusses how the executive order on agency reorganization and budget outline will impact federal employees.

Maria Horton, president and CEO of EmeSec, discusses the new privacy and cybersecurity mandates for contractors.

Joseph Klimavicz, chief information officer at the Department of Justice, discussed his agency's cloud migration efforts and other IT priorities.

Zina Merritt, director of defense capabilities and management issues at the Government Accountability Office, discussed her report on supply chain management issues inside the Department of Defense.

Nick Nayak, president of Green Light Acquisition and former chief procurement officer at the Department of Homeland Security, discussed the future of federal acquisition policy.

Gen. Larry Spencer (USAF, ret.), president of the Air Force Association, discussed the White House's proposed budget and what it could mean for the U.S. Air Force.

David Chu, president of the Institute for Defense Analyses, discussed the wealth of vacancies in top Pentagon posts. He also offered insight on Defense Secretary Mattis' approach to DoD reform.

Nora Bensahel and Lt. Gen. Dave Barno (USA, ret.), authors at 'War on the Rocks,' discussed the myths and concerns surrounding the installation of an active-duty national security advisor in the White House.

Robert Shea, principal at Grant Thornton Public Sector, discussed the possible implications of the Trump administration's budget proposal for the federal workforce.

Samantha Ehlinger, tech reporter at FedScoop, discussed the growing federal IT footprint at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference.

Rear Adm. Jamie Barnett (USN, ret.), partner in the cybersecurity practice at Venable, discussed the results of this year's FISMA report from the White House.

Michael Smallberg, legislative analyst at Bloomberg Government, discusses two bills approved by the House Veterans Affairs Committee that would affect current and future employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Darron Makrokanis, vice president of federal at Tenable, discusses the security challenges presented by the Internet of things, and how agencies can adjust their security strategy.

Kathy Conrad, director of digital government for Accenture federal services, discusses how federal agencies can deliver digital services through periods of budget cuts.