Security & Defence

National Audit Office flags "fundamental weaknesses" in Defence Infrastructure Organisation deal with Capita and says the Ministry of Defence faces a "huge challenge" in funding its estate programme

Public Accounts Committee move follows National Audit Office concerns over £434m “private sector support” and other costs in annual accounts

Iraq inquiry chair tells MPs that senior officials must "insist on their right to be heard and to record what their advice is" if they are to learn the lessons of the Iraq invasion

Confirmed: MoD's chief information officer Mike Stone to leave in March next year

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s first select committee grilling provides laughs and helpful sketches of flags, but little policy insight

Former Highways England boss Graham Dalton joins Ministry of Defence’s property division

Annual resource bulletin claims fall down to “bedding in” of Levene Reforms

Stats show Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, and Home Office hit by double-digit rises as overall number of demands declines

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments says it is not willing to give "retrospective" approval to Sir Andrew Gregory's new job as chief of the armed forces charity SSAFA

Cabinet secretary says call from senior officials to let top civil servants go public with concerns would introduce a "degree of antagonism between the cabinet secretary and the prime minister"

As cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood prepares to face MPs' questions on the Iraq Inquiry, the Better Government Initiative – whose members include former departmental chiefs – calls for new way to let senior officials raise their concerns

Foreign Affairs Committee lays into decision not to let departments plan for a vote to leave the European Union – and warns that the new Brexit department must not deprive the Foreign Office of resources

Theresa May arrives at Number 10 with years of experience on the government's key decision-making body on security. Dr Joe Devanny of the International Centre for Security Analysis takes a look at what the new government will mean for the way departments support prime ministers on national security issues

Common Agricultural Policy fines continue to hamper Defra accounts, while National Audit Office also points to the Ministry of Defence's non-compliance with international accounting standards

Former head of the civil service says he has never accepted that Blair "lied to the British people" over Iraq – but hits out at former prime minister's "disregard for the machinery of government"

Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy says lack of Brexit planning "indicated the prioritisation of political interests above national security,"

Single Source Regulations Office chair Clive Tucker says there are “compelling reasons” to enhance his watchdog's authority over non-competitive military contracts

Think tank praises updated blueprint for public-sector procurement but warns new clause must be used

Professor Malcolm Chalmers – who was consulted by the government as it drew up its 2010 and 2015 security reviews – says a vote to leave the European Union may mean reopening defence spending settlements

Former chief of defence materiel, who left the civil service at the end of 2015, to carry out progress review for the MoD on equipment buying

Department points out that shift to include spending on war pensions and intelligence gathering falls within Nato guidelines

Cyber Security Operations Centre to focus on protecting the Ministry of Defence's own networks from attack

Radical plan set to ease long-standing tensions between the culture department and the MoD

Latest batch of MoD land disposals will "make the defence estate more efficient and better suited to the needs of our armed forces", says minister Mark Lancaster