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The Army released its "Training for Full Spectrum Operations" field manual in December 2008. A few short months later, work had already begun on revisions. The increasingly complex battlefield is prompting the service to rethink the way it trains for war. Troops can find themselves conducting offensive operations, defending against an attack or carrying out stability operations - building schools, meeting with local tribal leaders to help improve citizens' conditions - all in the course of one day. "It's not specifically that you conduct offense, you conduct defense, then you conduct stability operations," said Lt. Gen. Thomas Miller, commanding general of the First Army, Fort Gillem, Ga. "The approach is that those are always intermingled together … It's just the dynamic nature of the fight."

Only 4 percent of people who hold degrees in computer and mathematical sciences were employed by the government as of 2008, the report says, compared to 70 percent in the private sector. The lack of talent comes from substantial recruitment and retention barriers.

The Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic controller training program overran costs four years in a row because it didn't properly outline training needs before issuing the program contract, a Dec. 18 Transportation Department inspector general report says. The overruns totaled about $89 million. In 2008, the FAA began developing the Air Traffic Control Optimum Training Solution meant to train thousands of new controllers the agency intends to hire by 2021.