Defense Department may be wasting your tax dollars

The Senate Armed Services Committee held a meeting to discuss weapon acquisition programs in the U.S. Department of Defense. Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said that immature weapon expenditures have led to cost inefficiencies, and cited that nearly half of DOD’s 95 acquisition programs surpassed Congress’s cost growth standards and have exceeded their budgets by an average of 40 percent. He called for an independent cost assessment director in the DOD in order to ensure that budget decisions are “fair, unbiased, and reliable.”

John Young, Jr., under secretary of the Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics said that the major causes of cost overruns and schedule delays are “unstable requirements, immature technologies, and funding instability.” He said that many factors necessary for efficiency within the department are not currently within the jurisdiction of the DOD to implement.

Katherine Schinasi of the Government Accountability Office said the DOD’s weapon acquisition systems have been on GAO’s “high risk list” since 1990 and has seen little improvement despite efforts to the contrary. She said funding has increased, but outcome has not improved. Schinasi said that the DOD has too many acquisition programs combined with inadequate oversight, which has wasted taxpayers’ money by providing less value per dollar spent. This has resulted, she said, in failure of programs to deliver equipment on time, in sufficient quantites, or with the correct tools necessary for current operations.

Guam faces challenges in military realignment plans

Today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a full hearing on the Department of Defense’s plans for military build-up in Guam and its impact on the community.

Witness Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU) said that plans for “military realignments” of troops from Okinawa, Japan to Guam will increase the island’s population by approximately 30 percent, presenting “many, many challenges” to local resources including construction, waste disposal, electricity, and other infrastructure and economic concerns. Bordallo called for Memorandums of Understanding, or MOUs, between the federal and Guam governments in order to establish funding sources for necessary improvements to Guam’s infrastructure in order to accommodate the population boost. She said that with the upcoming presidential election, MOUs are crucial to establishing a “road map that we can depend on” in the face of a new administration. Bordallo urged the Senate to pass H.R. 1595, the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, saying that it would be “tremendously helpful” in not taking Guam “for granted” and preparing them to assist with national security.

Brian Lepore, a Government Accountability Office director, said that the DOD has yet to submit formal budget requests and that it faces the challenge of obtaining enough funds to complete the operation, as well as strains on the island’s infrastructure if it cannot obtain these funds and does not have a clear plan of action.