ShareThis
by Don Azarias
November 6, 2010
In a previous article I wrote dated August 1, 2009, regarding Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, I let it be known that he was a no-nonsense cabinet secretary and would, most likely, be judged by history as the best Defense Secretary of the United States ever. Let me also remind you that he was the lone holdover from the Bush Administration that President Barack Obama asked to stay and work in the same capacity in his administration. With Gates’ valuable experience in dealing with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama, as commander-in-chief, knew that having Gates, a Republican, as part of his team, would only work to his political advantage.
However, Gates’ political greatness that will define his legacy will not be waged in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, but in that five-sided building in Washington called the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Department of Defense, where his office is also located. For years, the Pentagon symbolizes a federal bureaucracy with a bloated budget, cost overruns, inefficiencies and waste.
Gates said that tough economic times require tough cost-cutting measures. He argued that closing a major command that employs some 5,000 people around Norfolk, Va. and eliminating other jobs throughout the military are inevitable. The announcement was the first major step by Gates to find $100 billion in savings in the next five years. Gates says that money is needed elsewhere within the Defense Department to repair a force ravaged by years of war and to prepare troops for the next fight.
Gates and other Pentagon officials stressed that big cuts are essential because there are really lots of fat and waste in the Defense Department budget. And, considering the state of the nation’s economy, Congress can no longer afford to allow sizable budget increases that the Pentagon has enjoyed since the 9/11 attacks.
As expected, the political backlash was swift and fierce from lawmakers fearful that jobs would be lost in their districts. It shows the extent of how far lawmakers will go in order to take care of their home states, never mind how large the federal government’s budget deficit is.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, said in a hastily called news conference that eliminating Norfolk’s Joint Forces Command would deal a devastating blow to the state at a time of runaway federal spending on lower priorities. Likewise, Republican Rep. J. Randy Forbes called the decision “further evidence of this administration allowing its budget for social change” and the “piecemeal auctioning off of the greatest military the world has ever known.” Democrats, including Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia, also condemned the move. Warner said he could see “no rational basis” for eliminating a command created to improve the services’ ability to work together and find efficiencies. “In the business world, you sometimes have to spend money in order to save money,” said Warner.
Gates described his initiative as just the beginning in his hunt for inefficiencies across the Defense Department, which has a price tag of nearly $700 billion annual budget including war spending. “The department must start setting priorities, making real trade-offs and separating appetites from real requirements,” Gates said. He also vowed to review every corner of the budget, including the military’s rising health care costs. “There are no sacred cows,” Gates added.
Besides shutting down Joint Forces Command, Gates wants to:
• Trim by 10 percent the budget for contractors who support the Defense Department;
• Freeze the number of employees working for his office, defense agencies and combatant commands for the next three years; and
• Cut at least 50 general and flag officer positions and 150 senior civilian executive positions over the next two years.
Savings from closing Joint Forces Command will be offset by the cost of shifting some jobs and roles elsewhere, Gates said.
The command, which holds more than 1 million square feet of real estate in Suffolk and Norfolk, Va., lists its mission as training troops from all services to work together for specific missions. It tries to make sure equipment used by different services works together and looks for gaps in capabilities within military services that could be filled by a specially trained joint force. The command is headed by a four-star military officer, the highest grade currently in use. Marine Gen. James Mattis was its commander until he was named to replace Army Gen. David Petraeus as head of U.S. Central Command. His replacement will be Gen. Ray Odierno, now the war commander in Iraq. Odierno’s job will be to eliminate his own office, officials said.
The plan Gates outlined was similar to one suggested previously by the Defense Business Board, a panel of company executives who advise the Pentagon. The panel identified Joint Forces Command as contributing to waste and inefficiencies because it had more contractors than government employees on its payroll. Unbelievable but it’s true and that’s why Gates, with full support from the White House, is determined to correct the problems before he leaves his post next year.
The Pentagon spending cuts have been long overdue. But senior military officials and congressional lawmakers whose home states have stakes in defense contracts have, for years, been able to resist and defeat budgets cuts proposed by past Defense Secretaries. But Robert Gates is no ordinary Defense Secretary. He made it clear from the start that the military establishment is under the control of the civilian authority and that he has the final say on how the Pentagon has to be run, administratively and functionally. And that includes the Defense Department’s budget.
For now, both supporters and critics of Gates are raving about his job performance that seems to transcend his party affiliation. Like I said earlier, it’s my personal opinion that history, in later years, will judge Robert Gates, a Republican, as the best Defense Secretary of the United States ever. However, I also believe that he’ll be willing to settle for second place, behind his own personal hero, the great Five-Star General and the third U.S. Defense Secretary, George C. Marshall.