Two congressional scrutinizers of defense spending want to know what Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is doing to reduce duplicative Pentagon programs.
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sent Hagel a letter Monday quizzing him on how the Pentagon is responding to reports calling for action to reduce “fragmentation, overlap, and duplication” throughout the government.
Findings in the Government Accountability Office’s latest report on such duplication–issued earlier this month–include, for example, that the Pentagon has a “fragmented approach to developing and acquiring uniforms.” The GAO said the approach “could be more efficient, better protect service members, and result in up to $82 million in development and acquisition cost savings through increased collaboration among the military services.”
That is just one of multiple findings in the 280-page report closely scrutinized by McCain, a senior Senate Armed Services Committee member, and Coburn (R-Okla.), an outspoken fiscal conservative.
They asked Hagel how the Pentagon plans to “improve efficiency and mitigate the problems” identified in the report, and also the “extent to which” the Pentagon has addressed concerns raised in a similar report from the GAO last year.
“Declining defense dollars in the future will exacerbate the Department of Defense’s ability to gain the full value of its investment dollars,” the two senators wrote to Hagel, who previously served in the Senate alongside them. “We look forward to understanding the steps the Department has taken–and will continue to take–to improve efficiency and mitigate the problems identified by GAO.”
They ask him to respond in writing by May 10.