Secretary of Defense Gates will be a tough act to succeed, but he wasn’t perfect. Here are some tips for his soon-to-be successor Leon Panetta.
Dear Mr. Panetta,
Good luck on your Senate confirmation hearings for Secretary of Defense. If approved, you will succeed one of the most effective SecDef. While Robert Gates will be a hard act to follow, he wasn’t perfect, and neither were the administrations he served.
You will face multiple conflicts, a shrinking and increasingly scrutinized budget and a public that’s rapidly losing patience with endless wars. There’s no easy fix here, but let me give you a few pointers on where you could start.
Transparency
The Pentagon is notoriously cagey about its programs, and rightly so in many cases, but for the public to fully trust that its tax dollars are being responsibly spent, they need some sort of reassurance. The Obama administration smartly realized this and implemented a series of government transparency initiatives, including the well intentioned, but critically flawed, transparency.gov. DOD could learn much from this.
First and foremost: how to give the public just enough insight into the inner workings of government to keep it appeased, while not revealing anything of actual consequence.
To build trust and good will, you and your department will need to open yourselves up to more public scrutiny than you’re otherwise used to. Now, I know at the CIA blackout windows and retina scanning were all the rage, however, that simply won’t fly at the Pentagon. This might be painful at first but it will be worth it. As the country begins to learn more about its Defense Department, it will become more accepting of it. I’m not suggesting you give tours of the Situation Room, but I’m sure there’s a happy medium to be found.
Currently, the Pentagon represents one-fifth of the public’s federally mandated donations, though most have little idea where their money’s spent. DoD needs to openly engage its stakeholders — the taxpayers.
Fiscal responsibility
With a budget of more than $700 billion, defense spending is second only to Medicare and Medicaid on the nation’s shopping list and, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.
The past few years haven’t been kind to defense spending, and much of that was self-induced. From Future Combat System, to the USAF Tanker and the much anticipated — and grossly over budget — F 35, it seems like the Pentagon has teamed up with pretty much every defense company in the nation to mismanage a program.
To win the public back, you will obviously need to rein in spending, but you’ll need to do it smartly. Blanket spending cuts will severely impact our fighting forces today, in the same way as significant cuts in research and development would affect them tomorrow.
Instead, look to the industry to streamline their operations through the use of commercial technologies or through public/private partnerships. Put pressure on suppliers to develop technologies on their own dime and offer incentives for underbudget delivery.
As the number one customer for the majority of the country’s defense companies, you have the position to assert yourself, lay the ground rules and save a few billion dollars. No more $600 toilet seats.
Technology where it counts
The U.S. military has the coolest technology in the world. Not all of it has been successful, and much of it was overpriced, but with the possible exception of Israel, America has consistently developed the most advanced weaponry in the world. To ensure the U.S. continues to be at the cutting edge of technology, money will need to be spent in the right places.
Future conflicts will have little use for big-ticket, expensive platforms like Star Wars or long-range ballistic missile defense. Instead, as troops are finding in Afghanistan and Iraq, urban conflict environments require technology that is mostly available off-the-shelf.
And if it isn’t, it need not to be costly to develop. With limited resources, committing funds to the right area is critical. Listen to the guys on the ground; they know what’s needed.
I truly hope that my insights here are useful, Secretary Panetta. This is only a starting point, and you no doubt have a lot on your plate that I don’t even know about. But with that said, don’t reach for the stars; focus on the attainable and over deliver.
You’ve got a rough road ahead, but I have faith in your abilities and the judgment of your predecessor in recommending you.
Sincerely,
Elliott Suthers