WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash
Carter on Tuesday called for changes in the U.S. military that
would cut inefficiencies, streamline the acquisition process and
improve the ability to respond quickly to threats such as
Islamic State.
The proposals by Carter, speaking to an audience at Center
for Strategic and International Studies think tank in
Washington, cut across all branches of the Defense Department
because they affect its top leadership and service chiefs.
He said some of the measures could be put in place "over the
coming weeks" under existing authority while others will require
legislative action.
Some of the proposals aim to overcome organizational
inefficiencies within the vast U.S. military that Carter
believes do not allow it to best address transregional threats
like the one from the Islamic State militant group, which
stretches from Afghanistan to Africa.
Carter's proposals, which did not go into specifics, follow
a review of the Goldwater-Nichols law of 1986, which made
sweeping changes to the structure of the U.S. military and has
been criticized for being outdated.
Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, looking at whether Goldwater-Nichols needed to be
updated because of changing security threats including Islamic
State and North Korea.
Carter said the role of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff ought to be clarified to help move troops quickly across
regional commands and provide military advice for current and
future operations.
He said the Pentagon would try to simplify some headquarters
positions so that some jobs now filled by four-star generals
could be done by lower-ranking officers in the future.
Carter added that service chiefs would be involved more in
making decisions on defense acquisitions. He said the Pentagon
would seek to streamline the acquisitions process by reducing
the amount of paperwork required.
In order to make the acquisition process simpler, Carter
said he would look at potentially reducing the number of members
on the Defense Acquisition Board, which gives advice on
acquisition programs.
In recent congressional testimony, Michele Flournoy, a
former top U.S. Department of Defense official, said the
Goldwater-Nichols law was leading to a "tyranny of consensus"
and "bloated headquarters."
Reaching a consensus had "become an end in itself in too
many areas," including strategy development and acquisition, she
said in her written testimony.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Bill
Trott)
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