Experts Take Realistic Look at Revenue Versus Readiness

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. military is enduring greater hardship from budget cuts than it has under previous downturns, agreed uniformed and civilian leaders speaking at WEST 2015 in San Diego this week. Unlike other postwar periods, the current environment is more dynamic and hostile than any in the past, when the United States found itself in better security environments than it does today. 

The event, co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute, featured presentations by high-ranking U.S. Defense Department and sea services officials as well as industry leaders. The three-day conference centered on the theme, "Lower Budgets and Higher Demands: How Do the Sea Services Strike the Right Balance?"

Adm. William E. Gortney, USN, commander of U.S. Northern Command and commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, explained how this postwar era differs from its predecessors. Amid previous postwar budget cuts, the United States found itself in better security environments. With sequestration adding strict budget pressure, the force runs the risk of not being able to do what is asked of it, the admiral said.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work warned that the U.S. military will need several years to reset and rebuild. "Returning to sequestration level would be a disaster in my view. It just doesn't make sense," he said.

Work noted that the administration's defense budget requests add up to $150 billion more than the congressionally mandated limits. Any reduction in funding below the administration's submissions will cause serious problems and make overall risks to current strategies unmanageable, he warned.

One U.S. Navy admiral sees opportunity in the budget cuts. Rear Adm. David H. Lewis, USN, commander, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, pointed out that each interwar period since World War I featured significant advances or breakthroughs in military technologies or doctrines—and each of these periods was characterized by virtually no money for defense systems. "This is our opportunity to really innovate," he declared.

During other discussions at WEST 2015, experts focused less on budgetary shortages and more on how to stretch scarce funds. Nearly all of them agreed that the defense information technology acquisition system is broken, and both government and industry are responsible for its current status.

Dr. John Zangardi, acting chief information officer, Department of the Navy, said a program manager's job is increasingly more difficult because of rules and regulations. He also pointed out that unlike shipbuilding or aircraft construction, industry and not the government controls information technology development.

Gordon R. England, former secretary of the Navy and former deputy secretary of defense, said many factors keep the Defense Department from operating as a rational enterprise. For example, when he was at the department, 27 layers of authority from the secretary on down were in place, and the department had 128 studies on how to improve acquisition.

Ellen Lord, president and CEO of Textron Systems Corporation, expanded on England's description by pointing out the government has "oversight on top of oversight on top of oversight." She noted that her company has as many as three times the auditors reviewing programs today than in the past. All the time spent attending to audits is time taken away from innovation, she pointed out.

Addressing lagging acquisition processes now is more important than ever before. In the past, the sea services knew what to expect of an enemy and a war. Now, the adversaries are more diverse, their tactics unpredictable, the warfighting domains more dynamic, and war could come from a number of different scenarios.

A panel on the Indo-Asia Pacific region examined many potential combinations of conflict as well as cooperation. For example, the Asia-Pacific region is changing as more countries become involved in the activities that define geopolitics in that vast area.

One of these countries is India. Vice Adm. Doug Crowder, USN (Ret.), former commander, Seventh Fleet, said that the past five years have seen a slow progression of India coming out of its shell. He described it as "a budding change of significance in that area."

Adm. Timothy J. Keating, USN (Ret.), former commander, U.S. Pacific Command, agreed saying a "fiercely nonaligned India is coming around gradually to the clear realization that we are an essential partner." Most other nations in the region view the United States as the bulwark of peace, security and prosperity. That burden is one the country should accept readily, panelists suggested, but the United States must not vacillate or it will lose vital support throughout the region.

Adm. Crowder was blunt about the role the United States must play if it is to be taken seriously in the Asia-Pacific region. If the United States is not transparent in dealing with China and does not stand up to it when necessary, then other nations will doubt U.S. resolve, he charged. Adm. Keating was similarly blunt about dealing with China. "Do not relent ever when the Chinese want to put a finger in our chest," he warned. "When they say our presence is just to contain China, they flatter themselves."

Read complete WEST 2015 coverage online.

AFCEA International, established in 1946, is a nonprofit membership organization. The association provides forums for the ethical exchange of information and is dedicated to increasing knowledge through the exploration of issues relevant to its members. Join online.

The U.S. Naval Institute, established in 1873, provides an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak and write in order to advance the professional, literary and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to national defense.

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