By Emelie Rutherford
Defense Secretary Robert Gates cited concerns with President Obama’s new ethics rules on Capitol Hill yesterday, saying a new executive order that sparked a flare up over the deputy defense secretary nominee will not help Pentagon efforts to attract senior acquisition professionals.
Gates also earned promises of support from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) for his pledge to tackle acquisition reform and cut funding for programs. Though he did not detail paths forward for closely watched weapon systems, he testified before two congressional committees about focusing on troops’ current needs and spinning out near-term components of longer-term programs.
The SASC is still considering Obama’s nomination of William Lynn, a Raytheon [RTN] executive and former lobbyist, to be deputy defense secretary. The White House issued Lynn a waiver exempting him from Obama’s new executive order, which bans government appointees for two years from working for agencies and on matters they lobbied (Defense Daily, Jan. 26).
Gates told the Senate panel yesterday the Pentagon has found it difficult to recruit people for senior acquisition posts who have served in industry and truly understand the acquisition business.
“Last thing I would do is criticize the ethics executive order that the new president has just signed,” Gates said. “This is a cumulative problem that has taken place over many, many years.”
Gates said Obama acted wisely in issuing Lynn’s waiver, because of the need “to be able to get some of these people” who are seasoned industry officials.
“There is a reason why we have those kinds of vacancies and that they endure year after year after year,” he said. “And I think all of us–the Congress, the executive branch together–need to look at this (executive order) and see whether we’re cutting off our nose to spite our face, that if we haven’t made it so tough to get people who have the kind of industry experience that allows them to know how to manage an acquisition process to come into government, do public service, and then return to their careers.”
He spoke favorably about transparency and recusal approaches, and said he “can’t pretend I have an answer” to what the solution is.
Gates said before the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) the Pentagon’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget–the details of which he said believes will be submitted to Congress around the end of March–“must make hard choices,” but not across-the-board adjustments. He said the next war supplemental request could be sent to Capitol Hill in “two or three weeks, perhaps a little longer.” He also called for finding a home in the regular budgeting process for wartime needs
Asked by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) about the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, Gates called it “useful” that the Army last year reexamined FCS to see which capabilities could be accelerated and spun out for use in the field.
“I think that in terms of the longer-lead-time items, along with…many other large-scale weapon systems, we’re going to have to take a close look at it and take a look at the other elements of FCS, as we do with major programs of the other services, to see what can be made available, what is useful in this spectrum of conflict–from what I would call hybrid-complex wars to those of counterinsurgency, where you may encounter high-end capabilities that have been sold to some of our adversaries by near-peers, but they are in use in a conflict such as we face in Afghanistan or in Iraq or perhaps elsewhere,” Gates told the SASC. “So I think all these things are going to have to be looked at. I don’t think anything’s off the table at this point.”
Quizzed by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) on plans for the Air Force’s next-generation bomber, Gates said it will be looked at during the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).
“It is my intent to launch that (QDR) next month and to do so in an accelerated way so that it can, if not shape the FY ’10 budget, have a dramatic impact on the FY ’11 budget,” he said, called for examining “all the aspects of our strategic posture.”
Gates told Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) he will meet with Air Force and Pentagon officials, after the Pentagon people are in their positions, about the Air Force’s tanker competition, which he paused last year while working in the Bush administration.
The defense secretary told the HASC he hopes the process for the tanker competition can get underway by the “early spring,” and said the solicitation could run until “soon after the first of next year.” He confirmed, when asked by Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), that he believes a split-buy for the tanker between the two dueling bidder is an “absolutely terrible idea.”
Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D/I-Conn.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said they would like to see more defense spending added to the under-development economic-stimulus bill, by which Chabliss suggesting the Air Force’s uncertain F-22 fighter program could be aided. Gates said the Pentagon’s stimulus wish-list to the White House included military- construction efforts that could start in approximately six months, which are the type of defense items included in bill proposals.
Both Levin and SASC Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for reforms to the DoD acquisition system, which Levin said will be “a top priority” for the panel.
Gates made specific reform proposals to both committees, including freezing requirements for programs at contract award and writing contracts that incentives proper behavior. He said he believes many overbudget programs have inadequate initiation foundations, and that the Defense Department should “seek increased competition, use of prototypes, and ensure technology maturity so that our programs are ready for the next phase of development.”