Mike Levin: “Secretary Cohen indicates in his letter that while the military services' unfunded priority lists "provide useful ways…”

“Secretary Cohen indicates in his letter that while the military services' unfunded priority lists "provide useful ways that the Defense Department could apply additional funds, the President's budget already provided for the Department's essential priorities." With the exception of four specific items, Secretary Cohen also noted that the items on the services' lists are included in the fiscal year 1998-fiscal year 2003 Future Years Defense Program. General Shalikashvili's response to my letter outlines his views on the most important programs on the services' lists from a joint warfighting perspective. General Shalikashvili's joint list totals about $4.0 billion, or about one-third of the total $12 billion on the four lists that the service chiefs submitted. His list includes three command, control, communications and intelligence programs that were not on the services' original list. Unfortunately, General Shalikashvili does not indicate relative priorities within the programs on his joint list, but I intend to pursue this question further. Mr. President, I think Secretary Cohen's and General Shalikashvili's personal involvement in this issue of unfunded priority lists represents an important step forward in what some people have called the wish list process in the last several years--a process that in my view had gotten a little out of hand. It is still too early to tell how relevant these various lists will be this year.”