Lieberman, Courtney Address Sec. Gates’ Remarks on Defense Spending
DEFENSE
The Day
Katie Koch
Boston University Washington News Service
1/27/09
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress Tuesday that one of his major goals is to fix the “long-standing systemic problems” in how the government acquires military goods and services with taxpayer dollars—a process that for years has brought billions of dollars in defense spending to Eastern Connecticut.
In separate hearings by the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, Gates said this was his next most important priority after stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate committee, and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-2nd District), who serves on the House committee, attended the hearings, which were meant to set the tone for the new Congress.
“Many programs that cost more than anticipated are built on an inadequate initial foundation,” Gates said at the Senate hearing.
He criticized the Department of Defense for its “entrenched attitudes,” including resistance to change, factional in-fighting and focus on parochial interests. He called for increased competition and better use of technology to ensure that all defense spending projects are pursued fairly and wisely.
At the Senate hearing, Lieberman questioned Gates about his attitudes toward new defense investments, which Connecticut politicians hope will spur economic growth in the region. The Day reported Sunday that Camp Rell in Niantic and the Naval Submarine Base in Groton will receive a combined $163.95 million for construction projects, while Electric Boat in Groton landed a $14 billion contract with the Navy last December.
“My interest [is] in having the Defense Department review some programs—defense acquisitions that we’re going to have to make in the next five years, let’s say—and see if we can accelerate any of them to this year as part of the economic stimulus,” Lieberman said. He said these programs, much like the infrastructure projects the new administration wants to speed up, would create jobs and be consistent with national goals.
Gates said that the White House had already asked the Department of Defense for a list of “shovel-ready” defense projects, including military hospitals, barracks and clinics.
Courtney, who attended the House hearing later in the day, said Gates’s analysis impressed him.
“He’s absolutely right that the system needs to be reformed,” Courtney said in an interview. “I think to a large degree it’s a negative legacy of the Rumsfeld era. He really just pretty much handed over the whole area [of defense acquisitions] to private contractors.”
Both congressmen said they largely exempted Electric Boat’s new contract to build Virginia-class submarines for the Navy from their criticisms.
“I am not afraid of scrutiny being given to the Virginia-class program,” Courtney said. “At the end of the day, the Virginia-class program has really earned its place in the Navy’s plans, because they really had to go through a pretty wrenching process of bringing down costs.”
“Electric Boat is probably the best example in the country of a defense contractor that has worked well with the Defense Department to bring the cost of a major project…down substantially,” Lieberman said in an interview.
Lieberman said his goals for procuring defense spending for Connecticut did not conflict with Gates’s call for better procurement processes.
“If you have better acquisition you’re actually going to be able to acquire more defense systems because you won’t waste money,” he said. “You’ll be able to spend every dollar and get something for it.”
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