Ellen Lord

Overview of U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine

The following is the June 6, 2022, Congressional Research Service In Focus report, U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine.

From the report

The United States has been a leading provider of security assistance to Ukraine, both before and after Russia renewed its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. From 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, through June 1, 2022, the United States has provided more than $7.3 billion in security assistance “to help Ukraine preserve its territorial integrity,...

https://news.usni.org/2022/06/07/overview-of-u-s-security-assistance-to-ukraine

Ukraine Will Make ‘No Deals’ To Cede Territory to End War With Russia, Says Ambassador

UK MoD’s Ukraine Conflict Map on March 31, 2022

Ukrainian leaders will make “no deals” for peace that cede territory to Russia, as the nation is braced for a long war lasting into next winter, Ukraine’s United Nations ambassador said on Wednesday.

“It’s a matter of principle” not to accept new boundaries between Ukraine and Russia, Sergiy Kyslytsya said at an event at The Washington Post.

He called former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s suggestion that such a concession could lead to peace...

https://news.usni.org/2022/06/01/ukraine-will-make-no-deals-to-cede-territory-to-end-war-with-russia-says-ambassador

U.S. Missiles Sent to Ukraine Aren’t Easily Replaced, Panel Tells Senate

U.S. Marines with Charlie Company, Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry – West, fire an M98A2 Javelin guided missile system during a field-fire demonstration as part of the Anti-Tank Missileman Course at Range 204B on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Jan. 22, 2020. ITB trains, develops and certifies Marines as riflemen, as well as their primary military occupational specialty within the infantry field, before sending them to join the Fleet Marine Force. US Marine Corps...

https://news.usni.org/2022/04/27/u-s-missiles-sent-to-ukraine-arent-easily-replaced-panel-tells-senate

Panel: New National Defense Strategy Needs More Substance, Clear Goals

The next National Defense Strategy, scheduled for release next month, must spell out “what are we going to do; when are we going to do it; and who’s going to do it,” the former civilian chief of Pentagon acquisition said Wednesday.

Ellen Lord, speaking at an Atlantic Council online forum, said the secretary of defense should say, “these are the types of scorecards I want to see.” This way, the strategy would have set “actual goals … to bring this NDS to life,” she said.

While expecting the...

https://news.usni.org/2022/01/05/panel-new-national-defense-strategy-needs-more-substance-clear-goals

New Counter-Drone Strategy Calls for ‘Holistic’ Approach Across Services

A U.S. Marine assigned to Special Purpose Marine-Air Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command, operates a Battelle Drone Defender V2 during counter unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) training at the Baghdad Embassy Compound in Iraq, Oct. 9, 2020. US Marine Corps Photo

The Defense Department must employ an all-encompassing agency-wide approach to its strategy for buying and using small drones to combat future threats, according to a new Pentagon document.

The Pentagon’s Counter-Small...

https://news.usni.org/2021/01/08/new-counter-drone-strategy-calls-for-holistic-approach-across-services

Pentagon Wants a Process to Field Unmanned Systems, AI Faster

Tests of Boeing’s MQ-25A Stringray prototype in St. Louis. Boeing Image

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Though the Pentagon is accelerating how it buys unmanned and artificial intelligence systems, leaders want to move faster still in acquiring what the Defense Department considers key future technology. 

Alan Shaffer, deputy under secretary of defense acquisition and sustainment, said it’s largely an “urban legend” that companies don’t want to do business with the Pentagon but conceded there’s still a great...

https://news.usni.org/2020/09/22/pentagon-wants-a-process-to-field-unmanned-systems-ai-faster

Senators Clash Over $8B Nuclear Security Admin Funding Holdover

Virginia-class submarine Delaware (SSN 791) was moved out of a construction facility into a floating dry dock using a transfer car system in 2018. HII Photo

A group of senators pressed the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration on Thursday to explain why her agency carries over approximately $8 billion in unspent funds year-over-year that lawmakers argued could be put toward building a second Virginia-class submarine next year.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) noted the second...

https://news.usni.org/2020/09/17/senators-clash-over-8b-nuclear-security-admin-funding-holdover

COVID-19 Mitigation Will Likely Cost Defense Industry $1 Billion

An undated photo of a worker at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. US Navy Photo

The sweeping COVID-19 stimulus package passed in March does not cover more than $1 billion in COVID-19-related costs run up by the defense contractors, Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, told lawmakers Wednesday.

Section 3610 of the CARES Act allows federal agencies to reimburse contractors for payments to employees prevented from working due to COVID-19 facility closures or other mitigation efforts, Lord...

https://news.usni.org/2020/06/10/covid-19-mitigation-will-likely-cost-defense-industry-1-billion

Navy Looking to Buy Aircraft Engines as Civilian Demand Dwindles

Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class Caleb Fisher, left, and Aviation Machinist Mate 1st Class Ricky Souza, both assigned to the Skinny Dragons of Patrol Squadron (VP) 4, install a spinner cone to the CFM56-7B engine of a squadron P-8A Poseidon aircraft as a part of a scheduled maintenance inspection on Feb. 4, 2020. US Navy photo.

The Navy is moving forward with its plans to take advantage of a commercial aviation slowdown by accelerating new orders, buying spare parts and conducting depot...

https://news.usni.org/2020/04/28/navy-looking-to-buy-aircraft-engines-as-civilian-demand-dwindles

DoD: Shipbuilding, Aviation Hardest-Hit Sectors in Defense Industrial Base by COVID Pandemic

P-8 Poseidon in Seattle Factory. Boeing photo.

The shipbuilding, aviation and small space launch sectors are the three hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic within the defense industrial base, according to the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, despite a slew of memos and authorities signed out by the Pentagon to relieve pressure from sick workers and facilities closures.

“We see a slowdown in the shipyards to an extent. Aviation is actually the most highly impacted sector...

https://news.usni.org/2020/04/20/dod-shipbuilding-aviation-hardest-hit-sectors-in-defense-industrial-base-by-covid-pandemic

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