Government Leaders: Ashton Carter and Gen. Michael Moeller Headline GovCon News

March 4, 2013 - PRLog -- ExecutiveGov covered a number of important news stories in the past week concerning the federal government.

This release will look at two of the most important articles that were published, specifically the government executives that were focused on in the pieces.

The first piece focused on plans by new Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter for sequestration.

Carter and Hagel said the Pentagon has two major concerns including cuts imposed under sequestration and the absence of budget flexibility due to the continuing budget resolution

The following are the effects of the sequester according to the DoD leaders:

·         the Navy will suspend operations of at least four air wings beginning April.
·         the Army will shorten training for all units except those for deployment in Afghanistan.
·         majority of DoD’s 800,000 civilian workforce will be furloughed resulting to a 20 percent pay cut.
·         DoD imposed a hiring freeze and let go of of temporary and term employees.

·         facility maintenance was minimized and contract delays were also announced.

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In another story, Air Force General Michael Moeller and Lt. Gen. Charles Davis spoke about sequestration and its possible effects on the military readiness of the Air Force.

Specifically, they said the major cuts would effect the modernization of the Air Force's planes.

“We have significant modernization that we have to undertake now to be able to replace key items in our inventory that will reach service life,” Davis said.

“The service’s top three modernization priorities make up approximately 15 percent of the modernization program: the new long-range bomber, the KC-46 refueling tanker and F-35. If we’re going to maintain the mission you’ve given the United States Air Force, then those have to be modernized,” he added.

Moeller said the sequester will force the branch to make tough decisions such as slowing the pace of modernization, struggling to sustain capabilities and looking to programs or force structure to make up the difference.

“This future budget planning is like painting a color-by-numbers picture, while blindfolded, in the back of a C-130 while flying through a thunderstorm,” Moeller said.

http://www.executivegov.com is one of more than five news media properties in Executive Mosaic’s online portfolio, which complements its full-length print magazine, GovCon Exec.

EGov focuses on vital government executives whose job it is to make policy decisions which shape the opportunities of GovCon companies and executives.

This leader oriented reporting results in important topics such as sequestration, getting coverage that is comprehensive, timely and executive-focused.