WID event to examine Defense Outsourcing.

• Author: Brand, Lois F.
• Position: Women in Defense - Women in Defense

Women In Defense (WID), A National Security Organization, will host its first annual national conference on April 11, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner in McLean, Va.

The conference--entitled "Defense Workforce Outsourcing: Opportunities for Business"--will focus on the business opportunities offered by the Pentagon's plans to contract out work now done by government employees.

By the end of this fiscal year--under a directive from President Bush--the Defense Department must allow private industry to compete for at least 15 percent of government jobs that can be filled by non-government workers. The conference will examine the department's plans and those announced by the individual services to comply with the directive. Invited speakers include:

* U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.

* Ariane Whittemore, assistant deputy chief of naval operations for logistics.

* Maj. Gen. Wade McManus Jr., commanding general of the U.S. Army Operations Support Command, at Rock Island Arsenal, Ill.

* Maj. Gen. Larry Lusk, assistant chief of staff for Army installation management.

A panel of industry representatives will discuss the opportunities created for the private sector by the president's directive. Panelists include former Army Gen. William Tuttle, who recently stepped down from the Logistics Management Institute; retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Fairfield, currently vice president for strategic development and integration at DynCorp; retired Marine Maj. Gen. Joseph T. Anderson, now with Peduzzi Associates Ltd., and Patricia J. Parson, president and CEO of AmerInd Inc.

"This is the first rime that Women In Defense has hosted a national conference," said WID President Norma Powell Byron. "The conference is intended to offer attendees and the organizations they represent an opportunity to...