Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall have highlighted their focus on building efficiencies into the military’s procurement and operations to address challenges in budget and military readiness.
Claudette Roulo of DoD News wrote Saturday that Kendall and James pointed to the elimination of red tape, bureaucracy and government waste as a priorities due to the current global environment.
“We have a combination of world conditions which have our military perhaps the busiest that we have been in recent memory,” Air Force Secretary James said at the Reagan National Defense Forum.
She noted that the service faces increased demand amid budget challenges, reduction in the size of the force and aging aircraft.
James said that the Air Force conducts monthly program reviews and plans to have “strategic agility” built into the contracting process to expedite production and manage costs.
Kendall — defense undersecretary for acquisitions, logistics and technology – added that his office is working on a strategy to streamline DoD’s guidance on acquisition programs and requirements.
He said the efforts to remove bureaucracy in government needs time, tenacity and constant focus.
“[We’re] just going to have to keep at it, because one of the iron rules, unfortunately, about bureaucracies is they tend to grow if left alone,” Kendall said at the forum.
