Congress's Paperwork Humvees
First, fix the military's failed acquisition system.
WSJ.com
Friday, December 10, 2004 12:01 a.m.
When an Army reservist in Kuwait gave Donald Rumsfeld an earful Wednesday about inadequate armor for Iraq-bound Humvees, the Defense Secretary responded by paying the soldier the compliment of candor. "You go to war with the army you have. They're not the army you might want or wish to have," he said.
That's at least an honest answer, and the Secretary's forthrightness seems to have been appreciated by the troops at the town hall meeting, who gave him a standing ovation. But back in Washington, candor has gotten more than one official in trouble. Faster than you could say "Abu Ghraib," a new issue was born for critics of the Bush Administration's Iraq policy.
Figuring it was politically safe to slipstream behind a soldier's question, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd called Mr. Rumsfeld's comments "cavalier." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for Mr. Rumsfeld to be fired--for only the 10th or 15th time. California Representative Ellen Tauscher vows to press for hearings on supply needs.
The latter might even do some good, or at least hearings might if they examine the military's (which is to say Congress's) failed acquisition system. Specifically, we hope the Pentagon's 200,000 acquisition officers are paying attention. For if Mr. Rumsfeld gets the Army he wants, a good number of them will find themselves turning into MPs, civilian affairs officers, or other specialties the military desperately needs more of. When the Defense Secretary talks about military transformation, and the need for a faster, more agile force, that includes a faster, more agile procurement system.
By Pentagon standards, the Army has done an adequate job of getting the armor it needs. The general in charge of the coalition's ground troops in Iraq perhaps went too far yesterday, when he called it a "good news story," but he has a point. When commanders first identified the need for more armored vehicles, in August 2003, production was at 30 per month; it's now up to 450 a month and the plants making armor are running at full capacity.
That's remarkable considering the modern bureaucratic burden that has built up for procurement, especially after the $400-hammer wars of the 1980s. This isn't 1944, when B-29s were flying off the assembly lines of factories dedicated to supplying war needs. Today, anyone who's tried to sell so much as a paper clip to the Pentagon will tell you what a time-consuming mess the system is. Forget to dot one "i" and your company runs the risk of ending up like Halliburton, target of lawsuits and reviled in the press as a corporate predator.
As bad as the bureaucracy is a mindset that says only 100% solutions will do. Suggest an 80% solution that can be implemented immediately and be prepared to be told that only a perfect fix is acceptable no matter how long it takes. This isn't the way to meet rapidly changing battlefield threats.
It's also worth noting that Congress in October passed something called rapid acquisition authority, which if invoked by a combat officer allows the Pentagon to bypass red tape and get vitally needed equipment to the battlefield faster. Amid all the criticism of Mr. Rumsfeld, someone might mention that no field commander has invoked it yet.
At Wednesday's town hall meeting, another soldier criticized the military's "stop-loss" policy, which the Pentagon has used to keep soldiers on active duty when their enlistment contracts end. About 7,000 active-duty soldiers have had their contracts extended under this policy and up to 40,000 reservists could be ordered to stay longer.
Mr. Rumsfeld replied that this is nothing unusual and is only done when there is no other option. But the soldier's complaint is apt. Yes, recruits understand the contingencies of war when they sign up. But at some point it gives the lie to the concept of a volunteer force if the volunteers can't ever leave. We need a different, and probably a larger, active-duty military if we are going to undertake Iraq-style missions.
For all the focus on this "back-door draft," however, the services don't seem to be having much trouble finding and keeping men and women who want to serve. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines all met their recruiting goals for the year that ended September 30. Only the National Guard fell short--6,000 off its 56,000 goal. Yet the Guard's re-enlistment rate was higher than it has been since the draft ended in the 1970s and, a spokesman tells us, the retention rate of Guardsmen who've served in Iraq is especially high.
The stop-loss problem should eventually go away as Mr. Rumsfeld and Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker follow through on their plans to recreate the Army for 21st century wars. One idea is to downsize the artillery and re-train soldiers as special forces, intelligence officers and other specialties. Meanwhile, give Mr. Rumsfeld credit for giving an honest answer.
Copyright © 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
