Fast-track process for DoD reform worries Kaine
The Senate's marked-up defense spending bills has lots of good news for Virginia -- and a big worry for the Virginian member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
That's because it includes sweeping reforms of the Defense Departmentthat were presented to committee members a week ago, under an embargo that kept the proposal in-house, said Sen. Tim Kaine.
One result -- he says he's changed his mind about supporting the committee's longstanding practice of marking up the defense spending bill behind closed doors.
Kaine said the last time Congress tackled such a major change at DoD, in the 1980s, it did so after five years of study and deliberation.
"With less than a week to review these extensive reforms, without the ability to ask for input from outside stakeholders ... I just don’t know enough to know whether these changes are the right ones or not," he told committee chairman John McCain.
The reforms call for, among other things, a 25 percent reduction in the number of general and flag officers, and a similar cut in the number of DoD civilians in the Senior Executive Service, the top echelons of the federal civil service. They would eliminate the post of Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, and changes in Combatant Commands, including a pilot program for joint task forces instead of separate Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine leadership.
Kaine said he was encouraged that McCain listed to his concern and agreed to drop a proposal to cut the number of those commands from six to four.
"I think that's something that should be up to the military" Kaine said.
He said he was worried that the latest proposal, coming on the heels last year's decision for a 25 percent cut at the Pentagon over four years would send a signal to talented military and DoD civilians that they might want to look elsewhere for better job security.
Kaine said he was pleased that the defense spending bill continues to fund work at Newport News Shipbuilding on the USS Gerald Ford, the USS John F. Kennedy, as well as research and purchasing for the future USS Enterprise. The bill also fully funds refueling of the USS George Washington and USS John Stennis at the yard, as well as the Virginia and Ohio class submarine program.
