The Government Accountability Office says the Pentagon needs to improve its global posture strategy by reporting more to Congress and addressing management and funding issues. In its latest defense management report, GAO says that DOD has only addressed three of six characteristics GAO feels are vital to producing an “effective national strategy.” The three yet to be seen in any of four DOD restructuring documents are: establishing goals and performance measures; identifying resources and methods of managing risks; and defining organizational roles and responsibilities. While the Pentagon agrees to some extent with GAO, it says that it “remains concerned” that “GAO’s view of how major initiatives should be executed” is at odds with DOD’s basic approach of centralized planning that has made a “success of global defense posture.” In other words, we agree to disagree.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.