The Public Record
John McCain was a prominent American politician and military officer who served as a United States Senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. A member of the Republican Party, McCain was known for his bipartisan approach and commitment to national security. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he was a prisoner of war for over five years, an experience that shaped his political career and views on military and foreign policy.
In the WSARA of 2009, we required certain organizational changes where, with the benefit of analysis done by or for the DOD, we found that some functional areas within your organization that are vital to effective program management and…
Dr. Carter, when defense-wide/joint capabilities overlap with Service-specific capabilities, who will conduct the review, your office or the Service?
Dr. Carter, do you have even a rough sense of how much taxpayers could benefit from this particular initiative?
What, if anything, are you doing to ensure that your proposal on insourcing is being implemented properly and consistently among all the military departments?
Dr. Carter, what has your response been to industry criticism that your approach would require contractors to take on too much risk?
The most recent QDR was supposed to take a hard look at requirements and challenges over the next 20 years.
Dr. Carter, what is your time frame for completing the first two defense-wide reviews of Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) systems and Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) systems?
I appreciate your intent to mandate affordability as a requirement and drive productivity through 'should cost' management.
Dr. Carter, where does the pursuit of efficiencies end and the assessment of roles and missions begin?
As you know from past years, the tendencies of the military departments when faced with similar directives have been to cut budgets for support activities such as base operations, facility maintenance, training, and equipment purchases.
Dr. Carter, would you be willing to brief the committee on the results of these reviews once finalized?
Dr. Carter, will those programs reviewed by your office be limited by dollar threshold (e.g. ACAT Level 1 only), by special interest items, or by some other criteria?
I am concerned about your interest in relieving the Department from doing so-called 'look-back' milestone certifications.
In my view, that is vital to ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not being wasted, stolen, or otherwise abused.
Dr. Carter, there appears to be some concern or confusion surrounding what you intend on fixed-price contracting.
It seems like a common request we always make of our men and women in the military is to keep on 'doing more without more.'
Maintaining readiness continues to be a top priority and no proposal will be accepted that undermines readiness.
The high-level session was part of an effort to reverse a trend of the past few years that had left the DOD/industry relationship in a condition you have described as 'not healthy.'
The efficiencies initiative will not impact the Department's ability to reset combat forces.
Mr. Lynn, obviously, what is proposed by Secretary Gates is aggressive and ambitious.
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