Pentagon balances anti-terrorism efforts, transformation plans

The Defense Department's transformation programs were scrutinized on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, as lawmakers sought ways to balance budgetary constraints with the military's need to win the war on terror while also moving from the industrial age to the information age.

"There's a limited amount of resources we can devote, even in this time of great danger to the country," Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., told Pentagon officials during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "Frankly, the appetite of the Department of Defense for systems and building things is rather substantial."

Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky shared some of Reed's concerns, arguing that President Bush's $379 billion fiscal 2003 Defense budget proposal is bogged down in antiquated "legacy" systems that have been in development for up to 10 years.

"You are spending a lot of money for old weapons systems that don't seem to work very well," Bunning said, noting that the budget calls for nearly $1.5 billion to continue developing the controversial MV-22 Osprey helicopter, which has been plagued with problems during the past 10 years. "If we're going to upgrade the Defense Department in an effective manner, we have to have very forward thinking, not in 10-year periods but in one- or two- or three-year periods."

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called the Osprey a "revolutionary" and "transformational" system but acknowledged that military officials are still studying its reliability.

But Wolfowitz said Defense had devoted a significant chunk of its fiscal 2003 budget to transformation efforts. "There's a lot of new investment here," he said, noting that the budget would earmark $21 billion for transformation-related procurement and research programs. It also calls for $25 billion to support existing Defense programs that "enable transformation or extend current capabilities, such as precision-guided munitions."

"Over the next five years, we plan to invest more than $136 billion in transformational technologies and systems," Wolfowitz said. "Of this, $76 billion represents new investments to accelerate or start new transformation programs."

Sen. John Warner of Virginia, the panel's ranking Republican, said many specific transformation programs would have a better chance of withstanding congressional scrutiny if they were delineated more clearly in the budget request.

"There ought to be a red flag put on transformation programs," Warner said, noting that transformation efforts resemble a chain that is only as strong as its weakest link. "If you let one or two pieces of it lapse and let the others go forward, I think [transformation] will be less effective."

Retired Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski, the Pentagon's director of force transformation, said strong links between lawmakers and Defense officials are crucial to the military's ability to move into the information age. "We can do this," Cebrowski said. "It's a matter of courage and commitment to do it, and we need to work as a team."