Edwards on Pentagon Performance

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards gave a big foreign policy speech today at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Here are a couple of interesting proposals included in the speech, according to a campaign fact sheet:

Repair the Tremendous Damage Done to Civil-Military Relations: The past few years have brought the biggest crisis in civil-military relations in a generation. The mismanagement of the Pentagon has been so severe that many of our most decorated retired officers are speaking out. As president, Edwards will institute regular, on-on-one meetings with top military leadership. He will also reinstate a basic doctrine of national security management that has been demolished by the Bush Administration: military professionals will have primary responsibility in matters of tactics and operations, while civilian leadership will have authority in all matters of broad strategy and political decisions.

Root Out Cronyism and Waste and Increase Efficiency in the Pentagon: The Government Accountability Office has found that of Pentagon’s 26 biggest acquisition programs, 40 percent are above expected costs and 20 percent are behind schedule. The top five weapons programs have increased in costs by average of 29 percent, or $122.4 billion. As president, Edwards will launch a comprehensive, tough review of fraud, waste, and abuse, such as missile defense and offensive space-based weapons, that are costly and unlikely to work. He will also overhaul the rules governing privatization, to punish mismanagement, and reform DOD compensation policies to reward performance.