Defense Drumbeat

WASHINGTON, DC - This week, Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) unveiled his latest round of defense reform proposals. This year's draft legislation includes a proposal that advances the Committee's efforts to reform how the Department of Defense buys goods and services. The second aims to speed decision making and get more capability in the hands of the warfighter faster by reforming 28 quasi-independent agencies within DOD that are part of what is known as the "4th Estate."

The proposals are already grabbing headlines:

Washington Post: Legislation calls for major streamlining of Pentagon bureaucracy
…Under the plan, the savings would be reinvested in military hardware and operations. …While lawmakers have tried for decades to make the Defense Department's bureaucracy slimmer and more efficient, Thornberry's proposal is notable because he is a defense hawk.


Washington Examiner:Mac Thornberry wants to slash Pentagon support budget…
…slashing the Pentagon's so-called Fourth Estate, non-military operations that employ 800,000 civilians and contractors and comprise about $100 billion in annual defense spending. Thornberry is pushing a new set of cost-saving reforms that could become part of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act after Congress approved major spending hikes for the Pentagon for this year and next.


Bloomberg: Eliminating Defense Agencies Could Put $7B in Contracts at Risk
About $7 billion worth of contracts…could be on the chopping block…"If I am not making somebody nervous, I am not doing anything," Thornberry told reporters in Washington today. The proposal is likely making some contractors very nervous indeed.


Stars and Stripes: House chairman aims to cut 25 percent in spending from dozens of Defense agencies
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas will spearhead an aggressive new effort to cut 25 percent in spending from dozens of Defense Department agencies.


Defense News: Major bill aims to slash Pentagon bureaucracy
Thornberry unveiled … legislative language aimed at taming what he sees as uncontrolled growthwithin the Defense Department's "fourth estate" agencies, which are supported by 200,000 civilian personnel and 600,000 contractors, at a cost of more than $100 billion per year…."We have to have a culture that is willing to be disruptive if we're going to adequately defend the nation," Thornberry said.


Federal News Radio: House chair wants to get rid of DISA, 6 other agencies to save money in DoD
…Chairman Mac Thornberry wants to take an ax to seven Defense Department agencies as part of a broader cut…to reinvest back into the Pentagon…"All of the savings and efficiency have to stay within DoD to get more capability in the hands of the warfighter faster… If you had to summarize this whole thing from my perspective it's, ‘Reduce the overhead to put more resources at the tip of the spear."


Government Executive: Many Pentagon Offices Would Relocate or Vanish Under Thornberry Plan
Savings from scaling down the back offices would, the plan suggests, benefit troops and weaponry…


Federal Computer Week (FCW): Thornberry looks to shut down DISA
"Did you know that in the Department of Defense there are 60 chief information officers at the SES level?" Thornberry told reporters April 17. "Is it any wonder that we have a challenge in getting our IT act together?"…Thornberry told reporters that his defense reform proposal aimed to "streamline, simplify, and get rid of the obsolete" in DOD by cutting back-office spending by 25 percent…that would be reinvested in warfighter capabilities.