Friday, July 13, 2012

Pentagon reverses policy on short reports after House chairman threatens to hold up defense funding requests

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday threatened to hold up Pentagon funding for military activities until the department reverses a policy of requiring sharply reduced reports to Congress. The Pentagon announced it is scrapping the policy a short time later.
“We have rescinded the guidance,” said Pentagon spokesman George Little.
The policy, which mandated all reports to Congress be around 10 pages in length, was put in place last year by the office of the undersecretary of defense for policy, Little said. He noted that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, a former House member, is committed to being responsive to Congress.
“We’ve taken on board the concern about the guidance inside this one directorate inside the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and from our vantage point, we are moving on,” Little said. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Article I branch of our government.”
The policy drew a harsh rebuke from Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, the Armed Services Committee chairman, who learned of the new Pentagon policy during a briefing this week.
The new policy led to cutting the length of an annual report on China’s military from 69 pages last year to 19 pages. McKeon said the shortening was “outrageous” and an indicator that the Pentagon is attempting to obstruct Congress by limiting information on a key national security threat.

Read more: http://freebeacon.com/mckeon-1-pentagon-0/

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