Webb blasts Pentagon for impeding flow of information

Sen. James Webb, D-Va., criticized the Pentagon Wednesday for dragging its feet on requests for information on a wide range of issues and accused defense officials of demonstrating a "lack of respect" to lawmakers and the media.

"There's a lot of slow-rolling going on," Webb said during a breakfast with reporters. "And it requires persistence and it needs to stop."

Webb aired his frustrations this week when he threatened to put a hold on all Pentagon and military nominations until the Defense Department responds to his weeks-old questions about plans to shutter the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.

The decision to close the command was announced in August by Defense Secretary Robert Gates as part of a sweeping effort to cut management and other overhead costs so that more money could be spent on military modernization and other priorities.

Webb said the problem over information sharing dates back to the Bush administration and has affected a number of issues. The Pentagon, for instance, took a year to respond to one of his requests for data when he was writing the new GI Bill in 2009, he said.

"This never would have happened when I was in the Pentagon," said Webb, a Vietnam War veteran who served as Navy secretary during the Reagan administration.

But Webb said he does not blame Gates. "This is not aimed at him," he said.

The Virginia senator, however, made his threat this week to hold up defense nominees in a letter addressed to Gates, who has built a reputation for holding sensitive information close to his vest.

Exacerbating the problem, Webb added, is a reluctance to appear "anti-military" in the post-9/11 environment.

"I think there's been a hesitance in the Congress, and in some cases in the media as well, to really aggressively question the Pentagon because people don't want to be accused of being unpatriotic or anti-military," he said.

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