‘A crime’: Air Force’s Kendall blasts congressional budget dysfunction
“This is just crazy,” agreed Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante.
‘Wake up call’: Panel identifies 5 ‘key’ ways Pentagon can reform budget process now
“I think that there's a demand signal for change given what we've seen in Ukraine... and then obviously, everyone has eyes on China,” said commission vice chair Ellen Lord.
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Not just selling into the kingdom, but building partnership with Saudi Arabia’s defense industry
Partnerships with outside industry are a cornerstone of the kingdom’s ambitious growth strategy.
House Approps Chair Promises Pentagon ‘Flexibility’ On O&M Funds
Legislators will probably loosen some rules on federal spending to help the Pentagon cope with Congress's failure to pass funding bills until six months into the fiscal year. Budget dysfunction has gotten so bad it's forcing even the famously strict appropriations committees to loosen the reins after years of resistance.
Bad Idea: Easy Savings from DoD Management Reform
We’re partnering with the Center for Strategic and International Studies to bring you their fab Bad Ideas series through the Christmas holiday season. They produced three today. This is the second. Mark Cancian, also a member of the Breaking Defense Board of Contributors, pens a fine piece […]
Two Cheers for OCO: Grease For Budget Wheels
The verdict from think tanks and commentators is in: Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), the much-criticized war funding account, should move to the base budget because of abuses and a lack of transparency. As a matter of theory, such a move would be good government. OCO deflects hard choices and distorts the budget process. In the […]
Why DoD’s Year-End Spending Needs to Change
As the end of the fiscal year approaches at the Department of Defense (DoD), teams at most defense organizations are working hard to spend all the funds in the Pentagon’s day-to-day operating budgets, which are available for use only during the ourrent fiscal year. To do otherwise, they fear, would suggest that not all available funds […]
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Streamcaster Nexus: Empowering the connected soldier at the tactical edge
On today’s battlefield, mobility isn’t optional - it’s mission-critical.
How DoD Can Manage The Great Bow Wave
Bob Hale knows budgets. He crafted them for the Air Force and he crafted them for the entire Defense Department. America faces a large spending spike by 2025 that grows even larger later. So, how can America manage this spending? Bob presents three approaches he thinks will work. Don’t get too depressed and read […]
HASC Mulls Nunn-McCurdys For Operations & Support Costs
CAPITOL HILL: Nunn-McCurdy notifications to Congress of gross cost growth in a weapons system’s costs strike fear in the hearts of top Pentagon acquisition officials, and something like them may become law for a new set of costs — operations and support. “They should be the next frontier for acquisition reform,” former DoD Comptroller Bob […]
The Hare And The Tortoise: Slowing The Growth in Military Pay, Benefits
Robert Hale, former budget god (comptroller) at the Pentagon, is good with numbers, especially defense budget numbers. And he speaks about them in clear, simply structured and well expressed English. Here he tackles one of the two or three thorniest issues facing the leadership of the US military: how to rein in the enormous growth […]