Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that the Congressional Budget Office’s report estimating the cost of President Bush’s troop “surge” in Iraq “dramatically overstates” both the cost of the force increase and the number of personnel to be sent. According to Government Executive, he told reporters Friday that the Administration’s financial figures are only for the current fiscal year; CBO estimated the cost through 2009. Gates also said the increase would last for months rather than years.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
