U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-GA., is slamming the Defense Department bureaucracy in light of a 2015 study by the Defense Business Board which revealed the possibility of saving $125 billion of waste at the Pentagon over five years.
“It’s disappointing to learn that a recent study exposing inefficiencies in our military’s bureaucracy was not brought forth to the public,” Perdue said. “These findings are not surprising, however, given the tremendous growth of the overall federal government bureaucracy under our last two presidents. I am optimistic because this study shows that the potential exists for restructuring the Pentagon’s budget to ensure every dollar is being used as effectively as possible. I look forward to working with President-elect Donald J. Trump and Gen. James Mattis to rebuild our military and rein in our oversized federal government.”
Georgia’s junior senator has previously called for an audit of the Department of Defense and pushed for a more efficient and reliable process to track assets (furniture, equipment, maintenance parts, etc.) through automatic identification technology. He introduced these initiatives through multiple amendments to the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to improve fiscal accountability at the Pentagon, but ultimately these amendments were not included in the final bill.
“The wasted funds identified in this study could, and should, be used instead to invest in vital equipment like the A-10 Thunderbolt II— for which there’s still no replacement; maintain our force structure at a level that makes sense in the world of threats we live in; recap the critical Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform, JSTARS; and stave off a major readiness crisis, which includes serious aviation shortfalls within our Marine Corps,” Perdue said.
