washington scene
The six priorities are to:
■ focus on eliminating middle management/“back-office” staffs,
■ reevaluate how the military should organize, train, and equip,
■ prepare for prolonged readiness challenges,
■ protect investments in acquisition and procurement,
■ reconsider the appropriate force mix across the services, and
■ slow the growth of pay and benefits.
The six priorities are a result of the secretary’s earlier Strategic Choices and Management Review and reflect the department’s continuing struggle to deal with the “too fast, too much, too abrupt, and too irresponsible” sequestration cuts.
One of Hagel’s priorities is to protect investments in acquisition and procurement programs. This is the same area in which the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found both cost and schedule growth remain significant. In its October 2013 report on defense acquisition, the GAO cited “39 percent of fiscal 2012 programs have had unit cost growth of 25 percent or more.” However, this costly growth area seems to be exempt from scrutiny by DoD.
What is troubling is Hagel’s sixth priority — slowing the growth of pay and benefits. In his statement, he urges Congress to permit more reforms to personnel accounts, stating, “Without serious attempts to achieve significant savings in this area — which consumes roughly half of the DoD budget and is increasing — we risk becoming an unbalanced force, one that is well-compensated but poorly trained and equipped, with limited readiness and capability.”
What concerns MOAA is Hagel states personnel accounts consume roughly half of the DoD budget.
Who moved the goalpost? In April 2013, DoD presented its FY 2014 budget submission, which stated, “The cost of military pay and allowances, combined with military health care, comprises about one-third of the department’s budget.”
Now, several months later, what appears to be part of a broader Pentagon public relations campaign to garner support for cutting currently serving and retiree pay and benefits is to state personnel costs consume roughly half of the budget.
What changed?
What changed is the Pentagon’s definition of personnel accounts. The new interpretation goes well beyond the traditional military personnel and defense health care accounts, which have remained relatively unchanged as a third of the DoD budget for the past 30 years. The definition now includes all pay and benefits — for current military and civilian personnel, retirees, and direct and in-kind services (such as DoD schools, commissaries, and more).
MOAA has shown members of Congress that military personnel accounts (including health care) have remained steady for years, but now the Pentagon has thrown in the kitchen sink to make a more alarming and inflated statement.
Pentagon officials use terms like “slow the growth” and “bend the curve” to mask the very real impact those processes will have on people’s lives. They’re hiding behind budget jargon and vague words in an effort to avoid blame for what they’re actually doing.
They hope this new math and ambiguous wording will provide them with the ammunition needed to cap pay and shift billions in health care costs onto beneficiaries.
Sustainability of the all-volunteer force is key. You sustain the force with pay that is comparable with private-sector pay and a retirement package that ensures a skilled career force.
It’s no surprise DoD resorts to moving the goalpost and changing calculation methods in clinging to its case.
38 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2014
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