Jeff has been involved in aerospace journalism since the mid 1990s. Prior to joining Aviation Week, Jeff served as managing editor of Launchspace magazine and the International Space Industry Report. He has been the editor and chief of Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily & Defense Report since 2007 and has been a regular contributor to Aviation Week magazine. He received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The Pentagon announced this week that management authority for the Airborne Laser (ABL), Space-Based Laser (SBL), and SBIRS Low programs will be taken from the Air Force and given to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). The change will not result in any personnel or facilities changes, according to BMDO spokesman Lt. Col. Rick Lehner. "It's just a management change," Lehner told The DAILY. "Everything stays the same."
The Bush Administration has set aside $5 million of its 2002 defense budget for the proposed creation of a transformation office - a move Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Dov Zakheim called a "real measure of our commitment to transformation." If approved and funded, the Transformation Programs Office would be under the office of the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, said Zakheim at a Pentagon briefing June 27.
The Pentagon released details of the Bush Administration's FY 2002 defense budget June 27, while addressing concerns over Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's plans to cut a third of the Air Force's B-1 bomber fleet and consolidate the remaining aircraft at two bases in South Dakota and Texas. The amended budget requests $328.9 billion for the Department of Defense, representing a topline increase of $18.4 billion above the president's February budget blueprint, and $32.6 billion above the $296.3 billion enacted by Congress in FY 2001.
