 |
| Image: Beltway Bandits, Cronyism and Department of Defense Exclusive Contracts |
EDITOR’S
NOTE:
The
following article in “Task and Purpose” by Jeff Schogol, although
a bit risque, is an apt description of the annual event I witnessed
for 36 years on the inside of the Military Industrial Complex among
the nations largest defense contractors. At times those of us who
know the venue well appreciate a lighter view of it. I found Jeff’s
talent for knowledgeably creating that view delightful and along the
lines of the legendary HBO Movie, “Pentagon Wars”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXQ2lO3ieBA
– Ken Larson
“TASK
AND PURPOSE” By Jeff Schogol
“One
thing your friendly Pentagon correspondent has learned is there are
two things you can write about on budget day: Toys and people.
Right
now, the U.S. military is like a 5-year-old at a birthday party.
Every time it sees that another kid has received a present, it
decides that it must have the exact same thing. (Oh, China got
hypersonic weapons this year? I want one!)”
________________________________________________________________
“Beloved
readers: Monday is the most wonderful all days – budget day!
The
Defense Department will unveil its part of the president’s budget
request. If you’re a trade reporter, budget day is like
Independence Day, Christmas, and the Super Bowl wrapped up in a
crushing orgasm.
Your
friend and humble narrator has covered quite a few of these budget
rollouts over the years. Each time, this reporter asks himself the
same question: “How the hell did I get through this last year?”
The
answer is simple, really: Budget day is a smorgasbord of figures that
have little bearing on reality because lawmakers will end up
rewriting the budget to reward their constituents. Defense officials
also spend hours speaking in tongues by using arcane acronyms like
“POM.” (A Program Objective Memorandum outlines defense spending
for the next five years. Since that spans two election cycles, POMs
are altered so many times that they become totally unrecognizable
from their original form.)
Each
defense budget is loaded with toys so that defense industry
executives can pay the mortgage for their winter homes in the French
Riviera. For reporters who cover the Navy, the big question is how
many ships the service plans to build.
Navy
leadership has stressed that it is committed to having a total of 355
ships by 2030 even though they have no plan to get there. (For their
next miracle, they will walk on water and hand out enough fish and
loaves for everyone to enjoy.)
Air
Force watchers want to know how many F-35 fighters, KC-46 tankers,
and B-21 bombers the service plans to pay for – and then act
surprised when the aircraft don’t work. The KC-46, for example, is
years behind schedule and the need for a new tanker is urgent because
the Air Force’s KC-135s first entered service in the 1950s. (Rather
than listing everything that is wrong with the KC-46, I’ll sum up
by saying this: It’s built by Boeing.)
While
the Air Force is tucking $100 bills into the aerospace industry’s
bra strap, the Army will get to talk about all of its new and
wonderful modernization programs that don’t have a prayer of
becoming a reality. Do you remember the multiple times the Army has
tried to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle? Yeah, they couldn’t
even do that.
God
bless the Army, but they are always looking for the gold-plated
solution so they can never make a decision. Instead, they will
down-select from 150 vendors to 75, and then order five years of
intensive testing to find out things such as whether the new squad
automatic rifle can fire in space. By the time the Army is
comfortable choosing between two options, all the people who were
originally in charge of the project have retired or died of old age
and Congress will end up cancelling the project.
If
you cover the Marine Corps, budget day is about looking for scraps.
The Corps’ acquisition budget is tiny compared to the other
services because they don’t buy aircraft carriers or bombers. They
are constantly looking for a new amphibious vehicle or other weapon
systems that are the equivalent of Dollar Store specials. That’s
one reason why Marines know there is no better acquisition system
than stealing gear from the Army.
The
other major category of budget stories looks at whether the military
services are adding people – like the Army and Marine Corps did
during the Iraq War – or drawing down, as all the military branches
did during President Barack Obama’s second term. (The Air Force was
so enthusiastic about cutting airmen that one can imagine the
service’s leadership singing “It’s Raining Men” at the time.)
When
President Donald Trump was elected, there was some speculation that
the Marine Corps could become much larger because Trump had endorsed
a recommendation from the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank
that the Corps have a total of 36 battalions. But in 2017,
then-Defense Secretary James Mattis told the Corps to fix its
readiness problems without adding more Marines. (Once again, the
Marine Corps was SOL. Note the pattern.)
Whatever
great and wondrous things are included in the Pentagon’s latest
proposed budget, expect your friend and humble narrator to be
listening with rapt attention as military officials go through
endless Power Point presentations that have all of the excitement of
J-Lo and Shakira’s halftime show – without the vibrating
derrieres.”
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Jeff
Schogol covers the Pentagon for Task & Purpose. He has covered
the military for 14 years and embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq and
Haiti. Prior to joining T&P, he covered the Marine Corps and Air
Force at Military Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment