By Emelie Rutherford
Congress ultimately denied roughly half of the $1.2 billion request from the Pentagon to shift around funding to pay for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) equipment for troops in theater, according to newly released documents.
The Jan. 31 reprogramming request caused controversy on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers including House Appropriations Defense subcommittee (HAC-D) Chairman C.W. “Bill” Young (R- Fla.) exchanging heated words with Defense Secretary Robert Gates over the attempt to divert funds from high-profile weapon systems. The four defense panels in Congress objected to, and rejected the Pentagon’s attempt to, tap funds already pegged for efforts including Army Humvees, the Navy’s version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter ($180.8 million in procurement), and Air Force C-130J aircraft ($15 million in procurement).
Now all four defense panels in Congress have weighed in on the reprogramming request, and denied roughly $500 million worth of money transfers, thus leaving the targeted ISR programs unfunded, according to the final reprogramming documents released by the Pentagon.
Lawmakers, most notably, said the Pentagon cannot tap the Army Humvee account by $863.5 million, and only can take out $613.5 million. Young directed the Pentagon to use the remaining $250 million for upgrading Humvee survivability.
The items Congress approved funding for, as part of the $1.2 billion reprogramming request, include the purchase of 20 RQ-11 Raven unmanned aerial vehicles, a Ground Based Persistent Surveillance System, Quint Network Technology radios, and force-protection systems at entry-control points to thwart explosives.
ISR efforts that lawmakers said the Pentagon cannot divert other funds to support include the development of “Landmine Warfare and Barrier Advanced Technology” ($10.8 million) and of a “Distributed Common Ground System” ($10.9 million).
Gates told the HAC-D on March 2 that every day Congress had not approved the programming request “the lives of our troops are at greater risk.”
Young, in a March 9 letter, told Gates: “I find it very troubling that you would suggest that my colleagues and I on the subcommittee are doing something that would ‘put American lives at risk.'”