washingtonscene
DoD has declined to implement FSAs for currently serving military members and their families, despite repeated urg- ings from MOAA, The Military Coalition, and Congress. MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan
Jr., USN-Ret., speaking at the press con- ference, said, “It’s perplexing and unfair that DoD has failed to extend our cur- rently serving military personnel this im- portant money-saving program that every other large employer in America offers.” Boxer vowed to work “every single day
to make sure our veterans and their family members are taken care of.”
Where’s DoD’s S
documented waste of hundreds of billions of dollars by DoD’s own incom- petent management practices.
DoD Leaders P
Money (Part 2)? Coburn bashes DoD bookkeeping.
en. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sent a letter to the Joint Chiefs of Staff Jan. 31 calling on the Pentagon to im-
prove the transparency of its bookkeeping by providing auditable financial statements. GAO, DoD Inspector General, and
other reports over the past decade re- peatedly have found Pentagon books to be “unauditable,” and DoD can’t identify how billions have been spent on a range of programs. Coburn’s letter said improved book-
keeping could produce savings that might otherwise come at the expense of military personnel programs. To put pressure on DoD leaders to make these changes, Coburn proposed freezing the defense budget for all nonmilitary per- sonnel accounts until DoD complies. MOAA repeatedly has cited these
same reports as ironic evidence that the defense leaders who feel such urgency to shift more costs to military people seem uninterested in ending the well-
34 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2011
Defend Cuts McKeon to fight budget cuts.
entagon leaders provided only a glimmer of clarity on the proposed $178 billion in cuts and efficiencies
over the next five years at a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee. The DoD proposal came under immedi-
ate fire that the cuts might be too deep. Committee Chair Howard “Buck”
McKeon (R-Calif.) opened the hearing say- ing, “I will not support any measures that stress our forces and jeopardize the lives of our men and women in uniform.” Deputy Secretary of Defense William
Lynn and the service vice chiefs of staff as- serted the cuts would not undermine war- fighting capabilities. Lynn said the proposed efficiencies and cuts will allow the services to reinvest $100 billion into other military programs, while the remaining $78 billion is an actu- al reduction in the overall defense budget. The latter cut caught McKeon and other committee members off-guard. The proposed budget starts with a base 2012 budget of $553 billion and modest growth over the next two years. The in- crease (over inflation) for 2013 and 2014 is projected to be 1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, while 2015 and 2016 are ex- pected to be flat based on planned reduc- tions in the force. Those cuts, which include an Army
troop reduction of 27,000 and another 15,000- to 20,000-troop reduction for the Marine Corps, are projected to come after the expected drawdown in Afghanistan.
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