This was from CNN this week. Nearly every major defense program is over budget (and delayed). What is wrong with a system that consistently delivers late and over budget?
CNNApril 5, 2008
GAO: Nearly 100 Pentagon Programs Over Budget
Lou Dobbs This Week (CNN), 7:00 PM
KITTY PILGRIM: Well, away from the campaign trail, the battle is escalating over the outsourcing of our defense and national security. The General Accountability Office is investigating the Pentagon's decision to buy tanker planes from Europe, and not this country.
Now, many lawmakers are furious that the Pentagon is prepared to spend as much as $40 billion on foreign aircraft. Another European product is a prime example of out of control spending at the Pentagon. Many U.S. weapons are also massively overbudget. The General Accountability Office says, almost 100 military programs are costing more than expected.
Jamie McIntyre reports from Pentagon. Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, you would think that the Pentagon has learned a thing or two about not paying too much for weapons but from the same folks who brought you the $400 hammer and $600 toilet seat, comes the nearly $300 billion cost overrun.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MCINTYRE: The new Marine One helicopter is a textbook example of why nearly everything that the Pentagon buys costs way more than it's supposed to. Back in 2005, the Navy agreed to buy 28 basic helicopters to carry the president around for $6 billion.
That was before the White House decided that the president wouldn't be fully protected unless the chopper got a few upgrades so it could fly 350 miles without refueling, evade radar and missile attacks, and even withstand the electromagnetic pulse generated by a nuclear blast.
$6 billion ballooned to $11 billion and the whole deal is now on hold while the Pentagon figures out what to do about the fact that each Marine One helicopter will cost $400 million. That's more than Air Force One which you may recall is a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.
TOM SCHATZ, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVT. WASTE: They just really can't follow exactly what they want or plan that far ahead, because these are unproven technologies. Nothing wrong with the ambition, but there is certainly something wrong with the process.
MCINTYRE: And Marine One isn't even the worst offender.
Government Accountability Office reports cites 95 Pentagon programs that are over budget by a total of $295 billion. Back before September 11th, the Pentagon was buying 75 major weapon systems totaling $795 billion. Today's count is 95 projects totaling the whooping $1.6 trillion.
The GAO found that the Pentagon consistently underestimates what things will cost. Take the new Joint Strike Fighter, $97 million a pop. That's 36 percent over budget.
The Navy's new coastal combat ship designed for shallow water, $472 million apiece. That's 100 percent over budget. Even updating the workhorse C-130 cargo plane is a budget buster. New avionics is up $2 billion, up 323 percent. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: So, why can't the Pentagon get realistic cost estimates and then hold the defense contractors to them? Well, the GAO says it's because the military keeps changing its mind, often adding new technology requirements that result in expensive, gold-plated weapons that take longer to develop and longer to field. Kitty?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
What is it like to deploy to the Middle East for member of the military?
I figured I would try to capture the “flavor” of the deployment so you guys might have a better understanding of what it is like to be here. Obviously, there is the normal I miss my family, home, dog and all that stuff, but I wanted to focus more on the day to day life of the deployment.
From the moment I stepped off the plane, I instantly remembered why I hate this part of the world. At 4:30 in the morning the sun was already slowly coming over the horizon and it was probably somewhere near 85 degrees. As the sun came up the first thing that struck me was the fact you could barely make out the horizon because the dust was so thick. You could feel and smell it in the air. They shuttled us from the plane (of which we just spent the better part of a day in), to a couple of large tour buses. The buses had obviously seen better days and every flat surface in the bus had a fine coat of tan dust that resembled talcum powder. The bus drove us from the airfield to a dirt field that had rows of port-a-johns and a couple of tents with picnic tables under them. The whole area was surrounded by high barricades and barbwire (I guess so we don’t make a run for it?). This meant the view consisted of dry sandy dust below us, concrete walls all around us and brown sky above. It’s kind of what I always imagine a prison exercise yard would look like right before a fight brakes out.
At our first stop, we got some water, used the port-a-johns, and mostly just sat and waited. Apparently, we were waiting for the Kuwaiti Minister of Defense to clear us into the country. We sat at the tables, we sat on the bus. But after 18 hours on a plane and little to no sleep and with the hot desert sun getting stronger in the sky, we just sat. After what seemed like a short eternity, we loaded everybody back up on the bus and began the slow convoy from the airport to Ali Al Salem. They said it was normally a 35 minute drive, but because of the convoy it would take closer to 90 minutes, and it did.
We were directed to pull the curtains closed on the bus windows (I’m sure it was so our host country would not be offended by our presence). What I did see out the window made our first night in Tunisia look great. There was lots of barbwire. I don’t think it was for safety or security as much as it was to capture all the blowing garbage. It was everywhere along the road. There was also the typical partially falling down abandoned buildings, a scrub tree here or there, but mostly it was just sand and garbage. They really need to consider some sort of adopt a highway program.
Nearly four ours after we first touched down on the ground, we arrived at Ali Al Salem. The first thing they did was off-load everybody from the bus and moved us into a large passenger terminal to begin in-processing. Now it was after 8am and it was starting to heat up. Earlier in the morning, it wasn’t bad, maybe mid-70s. But now it was quickly climbing up into the 80s and it was only eight in the morning. In-processing consist basically of sitting one room for a long time, answering a few questions and then moving to another room for a long time. Again, we sat and waited and sat and waited. After unloading our bags, loading our bags, unloading our bags and then reloading our bags we finally arrived at our tents at around 3:30pm. So, after flying for nearly a day and then almost 12 hours after touching down in country, we finally got to see our rooms. I think my heart sunk to my knees and my jaw must have hit the threshold as I walked in the door. The tent was pitch black inside with a couple of exposed bulbs to light the room. Along each side was eight Army cots (most of them broken). And except for the dust covering the floor there didn’t appear to be anything else in the room. No furniture and not a window to be found. After receiving a quick briefing on the location of the bathrooms and the dinning hall, we were told to report back to the in-processing area at 0800 the next morning. It didn’t take me long to claim a cot (actually two – one for me and one so my luggage didn’t get any dirtier), find my stuff and head straight the shower. Now these showers are actually referred to as “Cadillac’s.” At first, I figured this was somebody’s sick sense of humor, because they were awful nasty. The toilets didn’t flush, you had to pump the handle six times to get the pee out of them (I couldn’t wait to see what happened when I had to take a dump). The showers consisted of five stalls on each side with a nasty wooden bench in the middle. The good news was by this time of the day, there was no need for hot water as the tap water came hotter than most showers I take. Of course, compared to the port-a-johns everywhere, I guess they were the Cadillac’s of port-a-johns! After showering and shaving with 20 of my new closest friends, I headed back to the tent to get some fresh clothes on. Unfortunately, we are only allowed to wear two things in the AOR: Dessert Cami Uniforms and PT Gear with white socks and running shoes. It took about two seconds after I put my new white socks on for them to turn black on the tent floor. Lesson learned, don’t walk around barefoot in this place.
Things got better the next two days. You quickly get used to the heat. Well, maybe a better term is you accept the heat. The tents were great. The A/C ran constantly in the tents. The A/C would have to run all night so the tent had a chance of being tolerable during the day. This meant once the sun went down, the tent would drop to somewhere near fifty degrees. I was laughing when the told me to sleep in a sleeping bag, now I was wishing I had brought that mummy bag. Despite the A/C all night, the tents would still get over 85 degrees during the day. The biggest inconvenience was the midnight trip to the Cadillac. You have to put on your PT gear (to include running shoes and white (now brown) socks) and walk a couple hundred yards to the nearest facility. You can’t avoid these trips. Due to the ungodly heat during the day, you have to constantly slug down water to avoid dehydration (the urinals all have “pee meters” to ensure you drinking enough). The excess consumption guarantees you’ll be getting up at least once in the middle of the night.
Of course I thought Ali Al Salem was hell on earth, right until I arrived in Balad. Take everything from Ali and add the joy of having to wear a 45 pound flack jacket, helmet, weapon, constant mortar attacks and you have the vague impression of what it is like to visit Iraq. But that’s for another post!
From the moment I stepped off the plane, I instantly remembered why I hate this part of the world. At 4:30 in the morning the sun was already slowly coming over the horizon and it was probably somewhere near 85 degrees. As the sun came up the first thing that struck me was the fact you could barely make out the horizon because the dust was so thick. You could feel and smell it in the air. They shuttled us from the plane (of which we just spent the better part of a day in), to a couple of large tour buses. The buses had obviously seen better days and every flat surface in the bus had a fine coat of tan dust that resembled talcum powder. The bus drove us from the airfield to a dirt field that had rows of port-a-johns and a couple of tents with picnic tables under them. The whole area was surrounded by high barricades and barbwire (I guess so we don’t make a run for it?). This meant the view consisted of dry sandy dust below us, concrete walls all around us and brown sky above. It’s kind of what I always imagine a prison exercise yard would look like right before a fight brakes out.
At our first stop, we got some water, used the port-a-johns, and mostly just sat and waited. Apparently, we were waiting for the Kuwaiti Minister of Defense to clear us into the country. We sat at the tables, we sat on the bus. But after 18 hours on a plane and little to no sleep and with the hot desert sun getting stronger in the sky, we just sat. After what seemed like a short eternity, we loaded everybody back up on the bus and began the slow convoy from the airport to Ali Al Salem. They said it was normally a 35 minute drive, but because of the convoy it would take closer to 90 minutes, and it did.
We were directed to pull the curtains closed on the bus windows (I’m sure it was so our host country would not be offended by our presence). What I did see out the window made our first night in Tunisia look great. There was lots of barbwire. I don’t think it was for safety or security as much as it was to capture all the blowing garbage. It was everywhere along the road. There was also the typical partially falling down abandoned buildings, a scrub tree here or there, but mostly it was just sand and garbage. They really need to consider some sort of adopt a highway program.
Nearly four ours after we first touched down on the ground, we arrived at Ali Al Salem. The first thing they did was off-load everybody from the bus and moved us into a large passenger terminal to begin in-processing. Now it was after 8am and it was starting to heat up. Earlier in the morning, it wasn’t bad, maybe mid-70s. But now it was quickly climbing up into the 80s and it was only eight in the morning. In-processing consist basically of sitting one room for a long time, answering a few questions and then moving to another room for a long time. Again, we sat and waited and sat and waited. After unloading our bags, loading our bags, unloading our bags and then reloading our bags we finally arrived at our tents at around 3:30pm. So, after flying for nearly a day and then almost 12 hours after touching down in country, we finally got to see our rooms. I think my heart sunk to my knees and my jaw must have hit the threshold as I walked in the door. The tent was pitch black inside with a couple of exposed bulbs to light the room. Along each side was eight Army cots (most of them broken). And except for the dust covering the floor there didn’t appear to be anything else in the room. No furniture and not a window to be found. After receiving a quick briefing on the location of the bathrooms and the dinning hall, we were told to report back to the in-processing area at 0800 the next morning. It didn’t take me long to claim a cot (actually two – one for me and one so my luggage didn’t get any dirtier), find my stuff and head straight the shower. Now these showers are actually referred to as “Cadillac’s.” At first, I figured this was somebody’s sick sense of humor, because they were awful nasty. The toilets didn’t flush, you had to pump the handle six times to get the pee out of them (I couldn’t wait to see what happened when I had to take a dump). The showers consisted of five stalls on each side with a nasty wooden bench in the middle. The good news was by this time of the day, there was no need for hot water as the tap water came hotter than most showers I take. Of course, compared to the port-a-johns everywhere, I guess they were the Cadillac’s of port-a-johns! After showering and shaving with 20 of my new closest friends, I headed back to the tent to get some fresh clothes on. Unfortunately, we are only allowed to wear two things in the AOR: Dessert Cami Uniforms and PT Gear with white socks and running shoes. It took about two seconds after I put my new white socks on for them to turn black on the tent floor. Lesson learned, don’t walk around barefoot in this place.
Things got better the next two days. You quickly get used to the heat. Well, maybe a better term is you accept the heat. The tents were great. The A/C ran constantly in the tents. The A/C would have to run all night so the tent had a chance of being tolerable during the day. This meant once the sun went down, the tent would drop to somewhere near fifty degrees. I was laughing when the told me to sleep in a sleeping bag, now I was wishing I had brought that mummy bag. Despite the A/C all night, the tents would still get over 85 degrees during the day. The biggest inconvenience was the midnight trip to the Cadillac. You have to put on your PT gear (to include running shoes and white (now brown) socks) and walk a couple hundred yards to the nearest facility. You can’t avoid these trips. Due to the ungodly heat during the day, you have to constantly slug down water to avoid dehydration (the urinals all have “pee meters” to ensure you drinking enough). The excess consumption guarantees you’ll be getting up at least once in the middle of the night.
Of course I thought Ali Al Salem was hell on earth, right until I arrived in Balad. Take everything from Ali and add the joy of having to wear a 45 pound flack jacket, helmet, weapon, constant mortar attacks and you have the vague impression of what it is like to visit Iraq. But that’s for another post!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
It's The Economy Stupid?
The recent downturn in the economy has caught the attention of the most ambivalent American. Home prices decline (or at best go flat), oil spirals higher and higher as the dollar correspondingly nose dives. Americans are beginning to feel the pinch, and the worst hasn’t even begun. We are yet to feel the full effects of the aging Baby Boomers and the huge economic draw they are going to place on Social Security and Medicare. Unfortunately, many Baby Boomers woefully underestimated their retirement needs. Especially as medical advances improve and the average life expectancy continues to grow.
So, what role does the military and specifically the Department of Defense play in all of this? The national budget is composed of two parts: discretionary and non-discretionary spending. Often referred to as on budget (discretionary) and off budget (non-discretionary). Off-budget items include Medicare and Social Security. The reason these are off-budget is because Congress does not have to pass annual or reoccurring authorization and appropriation bills for these accounts. They are considered fixed or “must pay” bills. This is good news for you if you are a recipient of these programs, but it is horrible news for the Congressional budgeters. As the population ages and we start entering a period of time where we have more people collecting benefits than paying into the system, one of two things must happen. Fist there is going to be growing pressure to move funding from the other accounts (discretionary) to the non-discretionary accounts. But even this will not be enough to fix the problem. It is going required the Federal government to increase its cash position by either raising taxes or borrowing more money.
The current economic meltdown (or maybe more appropriate would be slowdown) is due to several competing factors. Certainly the cooling or normalizing of the housing markets (did anyone really expect housing to continue rising at double digits?) and sky rocking oil prices have hurt the average consumer. But another more insidious factor is stealing your buying power and that is the combination of the devaluation of the US dollar and increasing inflation pressures. The dollar has been in steady decline against the Euro for several years. For most Americans this didn’t matter because of the Chinese Governments policy of fixing the RMB against the US dollar allowing us to continue purchasing Chinese made goods and service at relatively fixed prices for years. But now, we are seeing the impact as oil is no longer priced in dollars, but rather in the stronger Euro Most of the recent run up in oil prices has less to do with supply than it does with the declining value of the dollar. The recent effort by the Fed to drop interest rates to rock bottom (although temporarily good for the stock market) should only accelerate inflationary pressures and drive more foreign money out of the United States resulting a near collapse in the value of the dollar.
So, what role does the military and specifically the Department of Defense play in all of this? The national budget is composed of two parts: discretionary and non-discretionary spending. Often referred to as on budget (discretionary) and off budget (non-discretionary). Off-budget items include Medicare and Social Security. The reason these are off-budget is because Congress does not have to pass annual or reoccurring authorization and appropriation bills for these accounts. They are considered fixed or “must pay” bills. This is good news for you if you are a recipient of these programs, but it is horrible news for the Congressional budgeters. As the population ages and we start entering a period of time where we have more people collecting benefits than paying into the system, one of two things must happen. Fist there is going to be growing pressure to move funding from the other accounts (discretionary) to the non-discretionary accounts. But even this will not be enough to fix the problem. It is going required the Federal government to increase its cash position by either raising taxes or borrowing more money.
The current economic meltdown (or maybe more appropriate would be slowdown) is due to several competing factors. Certainly the cooling or normalizing of the housing markets (did anyone really expect housing to continue rising at double digits?) and sky rocking oil prices have hurt the average consumer. But another more insidious factor is stealing your buying power and that is the combination of the devaluation of the US dollar and increasing inflation pressures. The dollar has been in steady decline against the Euro for several years. For most Americans this didn’t matter because of the Chinese Governments policy of fixing the RMB against the US dollar allowing us to continue purchasing Chinese made goods and service at relatively fixed prices for years. But now, we are seeing the impact as oil is no longer priced in dollars, but rather in the stronger Euro Most of the recent run up in oil prices has less to do with supply than it does with the declining value of the dollar. The recent effort by the Fed to drop interest rates to rock bottom (although temporarily good for the stock market) should only accelerate inflationary pressures and drive more foreign money out of the United States resulting a near collapse in the value of the dollar.
What Is Our Enemy's Goal?
Who is our enemy? I love this quote from the NCIOC of the Special Forces Assessment and Selection Course in his welcome speech to the new Security Forces candidates - "Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimum food or water, in austere conditions, day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon. He doesn't worry about what workout to do---his rucksack weighs what it weighs, and he runs until the enemy stops chasing him. The True Believer doesn't care 'how hard it is'; he knows he either wins or he dies. He doesn't go home at 1700; he is home. He knows only the 'Cause.' Now, who wants to quit?"
Specifically examining Al Qaeda, they have several stated goals (per bin Laden's 1996 and 1998 fatwa (religious decree)):
- Drive the US out of the Middle East (particularly Iraq and Saudi Arabia)
- Destroy Israel
- Topple all non- Muslim governments in the Middle East
- Wage a holy war (jihad) against American citizens and Jew an non-supporting Muslims
- Ruin the US financially, similar to what happened to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan
The final goal was clearly articulated in the Friday, October 29, 2004 bin Laden Tape: “We, alongside the mujahedeen, bled Russia for 10 years until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat." Bin Laden went on to say, "We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah."
Did Al Qaeda and the mujahedeen “bleed” the Soviet Union dry during the ten plus year war in Afghanistan? One could argue both sides, but certainly, the protracted war and the need to keep up militarily with the United States accelerated the demise of the former Soviet Union. Based upon their perceived experience, they fully intend to attempt to accomplish a similar feat against the United States. And the unfortunate fact is; the United States Government might actually be sleeping with the enemy. The current distraction’s view that they’d spend a billion dollars to smoke a camel might seem more humorous if it wasn’t the American taxpayers picking up the tab.
Specifically examining Al Qaeda, they have several stated goals (per bin Laden's 1996 and 1998 fatwa (religious decree)):
- Drive the US out of the Middle East (particularly Iraq and Saudi Arabia)
- Destroy Israel
- Topple all non- Muslim governments in the Middle East
- Wage a holy war (jihad) against American citizens and Jew an non-supporting Muslims
- Ruin the US financially, similar to what happened to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan
The final goal was clearly articulated in the Friday, October 29, 2004 bin Laden Tape: “We, alongside the mujahedeen, bled Russia for 10 years until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat." Bin Laden went on to say, "We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah."
Did Al Qaeda and the mujahedeen “bleed” the Soviet Union dry during the ten plus year war in Afghanistan? One could argue both sides, but certainly, the protracted war and the need to keep up militarily with the United States accelerated the demise of the former Soviet Union. Based upon their perceived experience, they fully intend to attempt to accomplish a similar feat against the United States. And the unfortunate fact is; the United States Government might actually be sleeping with the enemy. The current distraction’s view that they’d spend a billion dollars to smoke a camel might seem more humorous if it wasn’t the American taxpayers picking up the tab.
Who Is Fighting For The Tax Payers?
Within the Department of Defense, there is a small but crucial group which stands post on a vital front in our Nation’s Long War against Terrorism. They are called by different names, Comptrollers, Controllers, Financial Managers or Resource Managers, but they all perform the same critical functions; building budgets, defending requirements, executing programs and most importantly, ensuring good stewardship of our nations trust and treasury. We often forget that just because this group isn’t dropping bombs, pulling the trigger or looking the enemy in the eye that they are just as important to our nation’s success as those who are on the front lines.
How is it that the green shade accountants and resource managers are so important in this “long war?” First, one must understand that short wars can be won by sheer military might, but longer, protracted wars are supported and eventually won by a nation’s economic might. This Global War on Terrorism or the more recently coined Long War is no different. Although the Bush administration has failed to acknowledge the need for continued domestic economic strength as a key component in either the National Security Strategy or the Global War on Terrorism Strategy, our enemy has not failed to miss this point.
How is it that the green shade accountants and resource managers are so important in this “long war?” First, one must understand that short wars can be won by sheer military might, but longer, protracted wars are supported and eventually won by a nation’s economic might. This Global War on Terrorism or the more recently coined Long War is no different. Although the Bush administration has failed to acknowledge the need for continued domestic economic strength as a key component in either the National Security Strategy or the Global War on Terrorism Strategy, our enemy has not failed to miss this point.
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