Air 
Force Undersecretary Erin Conaton is urging airmen to come forward and share their best ideas on how the Defense Department could operate more efficiently. “The Air Force strongly supports the [Defense] Secretary’s overall campaign for greater efficiency, and I encourage each of you to submit your ideas for consideration,” she wrote in an electronic message distributed to all airmen. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates established a program called Innovation for New Value, Efficiency, and Savings Tomorrow, or INVEST. It is designed to give US military personnel and civilian defense employees an avenue for submitting their thoughts. Wanted are ideas that are “thorough, cost effective, low-risk, simple to implement, yield multi-faceted savings, and have a high return on investment,” according to a USAF release Tuesday. The submittal deadline is Sept. 24. DOD is providing cash prizes for the 25 ideas judged best. (INVEST website)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.