By MICHAEL HOFFMAN Published: 27 Apr 2011 14:02
The U.S. Army must work harder to find operational efficiencies within the joint services and fix a broken acquisitions system to ensure its long-term health, said U.S. Army Undersecretary Joseph W. Westphal.
In one effort to do so, the undersecretaries of each service have met frequently to find which programs and operations the services might be able to share in order to save money, Westphal said at a April 27 breakfast hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Army has taken notice of the work U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy leaders have done with AirSea Battle, he said.
The different networks the services use in combat show a lack of sharing, Westphal said. An average citizen would be surprised to see how poorly synchronized the services are when it comes to communications networks and even email, he said.
The services might be able to save money by combining their depots, he said.
"It's not a bad idea, but we have to look at it now," he said.
Some defense analysts have suggested that finding those efficiencies could drastically reduce the amount of cuts to weapons programs and service members' benefits. Westphal wasn't as hopeful, saying major cuts will come as the Army pulls most troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I'm not optimistic it will be a big part of it that we don't have to make cuts," he said.
Like other Army leaders, Westphal ripped the service's acquisition system, describing it as "cumbersome" and saying it is not effective in the 21st-century market. Program decisions take too long and weapons don't get to soldiers fast enough, he said.
"We realize we have to make big changes," Westphal said. "At this point, we don't have a choice anymore."
When Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in his February speech at West Point that the next major conventional war will be fought in the air and sea, he "was poking his finger in the chest of the Army" to challenge the service to come up with a future strategy of its force structure, Westphal said.
He followed that up saying the U.S. Army still has a role in "high end engagements" as long as the planet still has 7 billion people.
"You simply can't do it all from the air and the oceans," Westphal said.
Westphal commended Gates for paring the Defense Department's budget and heading off potential deeper cuts by Congress.
Gates' successor, said to be CIA Director Leon Panetta, must maintain focus on controlling defense spending and keep weapons programs from spiraling out of control, he said.
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