{"id":21814,"date":"2017-11-06T15:04:29","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T15:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/11\/06\/interview-air-force-under-secretary-matt-donovan-talks-services-relationship-with-congress\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:55:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:55:05","slug":"interview-air-force-under-secretary-matt-donovan-talks-services-relationship-with-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/interviews\/2017\/11\/06\/interview-air-force-under-secretary-matt-donovan-talks-services-relationship-with-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Air Force Under Secretary Matt Donovan talks service\u2019s relationship with Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Air Force Under Secretary Matt Donovan is used to playing a critical but often backstage role in shaping policy and budgets. In his most recent job as the Senate Armed Services Committee\u2019s majority policy director, the former F-15 pilot helped helm Sen. John McCain\u2019s tough criticism of Air Force programs like those of the B-21 bomber and F-35 fighter jet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now Donovan finds himself on the other side of the budgetary process, as he works within the Pentagon to help Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein figure out how best to fund a host of competing priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his first-ever interview in his new role, Donovan sat down with Defense News in October to chat about upcoming Air Force budgets and the service\u2019s relationship with Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Now that you\u2019ve been in this role for about two months, what do you see emerging as your priorities? I know that your main job is to support the secretary as she mans, trains and equips the force. But do you see any sort of pet projects coming up for you?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Primarily my role is to keep the trains running on time. [Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson] kind of looks up and out as the secretary and chief of staff do. I kind of tend to focus in and down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think the secretary leans on me because of my background and my experience in the programming world. In other words, POM [program objective memorandum] builds, I have a lot of experience doing that here in the building and understanding how the process works \u2014 how to interface with OSD [the Office of the Secretary of Defense]. But then also my time I had on the Hill is valuable as well because now I understand the perspective of Congress, and so I can help sort of translate between the Air Force, Department of Defense and the authorizing committees as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>I think the perception is that the Air Force\u2019s relationship with Congress hasn\u2019t really been the best over the last couple of years, particularly with SASC, which you just came from. Do you see yourself being able to improve that relationship?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I agree with that assessment. The other thing is, I worked for Sen. McCain, who has had his ups and downs with the Air Force. But what I remind people \u2014 and especially people inside the Air Force \u2014 is he is as tough on any service as he is on the Air Force. I\u2019ve personally witnessed that with his interactions with other members of the service. He cares very deeply about defense, as you certainly know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And he also cares very deeply about taking care of the American taxpayer dollar. So when things don\u2019t go so well, that\u2019s when he really gets engaged in certain areas as you\u2019re certainly familiar. I think part of the value I bring to this is, No. 1, I brought value to the SASC because I had 30 years active duty with the Air Force and then six years as a civilian. I was able to go over and sort of translate the other direction as well, too. Although, I had to follow Sen. McCain\u2019s guidance. He was my boss. I wouldn\u2019t say I was easy on the Air Force, and some folks would probably say I was tough on the Air Force, but I was able to provide that translation to the committee members on just where the Air Force was going, what they were trying to do, where their shortfalls were with budget and policy and authorizations, and that sort of thing. I think it was just really fortunate for me to get the opportunity to come do this job after having the experience in the Air Force and then the Hill and then get to come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Do you think you can be the person to help to smooth things over and create a better relationship going forward?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You know Sen. McCain has his moments with the Air Force, as do all members occasionally when there\u2019s a pet issue that kind of becomes a burr in their saddle. But the team that\u2019s in place now, and especially Gen. Goldfein, [starting from] when he was the vice chief, he put in place some changes that really helped the relationship with Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force used to go submit their budget and then go tell the Congress what they were going to do. In other words, a fait accompli. As the Air Force SASC primary portfolio guy &#8230; [Goldfein] would now come to talk to me about things that they were thinking about doing. And then I would bring him in to see Sen. McCain, and he would have a good discussion with Sen. McCain to get his advice, to kind of identify any pitfalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>When we talked a couple of months ago, I asked you what you were thinking about regarding the B-21 and the secrecy about the contract value. Do you see that changing anytime soon? Do you see that needing to change anytime soon?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, it\u2019s something that we\u2019re always taking a look at. It\u2019s funny because they knew I was the guy that was always kind of pushing on that from the Senate side and then when I get over here \u2026 but I\u2019ll tell you, Gen. Goldfein had met with Sen. McCain on several occasions to explain to him the need for operational security and not revealing capabilities that could be harmful to the country if adversaries were to get a hold of it, and Sen. McCain understood that. He still believes that the American taxpayer needs to know where the money is spent. But one of the things I\u2019ve been able to do is come over here and go: We need to release things as soon as we\u2019re sure that we can. I know that Gen. Goldfein still does a review every couple of months and the B-21 folks come talk to him and give him an update because he is very responsive to Sen. McCain\u2019s desires to make sure the American people know.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2017\/10\/18\/b-21-cost-info-to-stay-secret-despite-new-air-force-leadership\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635929514784652567-b-21-2png.png?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">B-21 cost info to stay secret despite new Air Force leadership<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Air Force chief of staff reviews the B-21 program every few months to see whether new details can be released, but it will be \u201csome time\u201d before the service divulges more cost information, the Air Force undersecretary says.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>So that\u2019s ultimately a call that comes down to the chief of staff, I\u2019m guessing.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, I mean military operational security really is one of his best military advice roles. And Sen. McCain certainly respects that of his four-star service chiefs as well, too. He does take seriously their military advice to both him and to the president up the chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>But I\u2019m guessing you don\u2019t see them releasing the contract value any time soon.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yeah, I think, you know, I suspect it will be some time. As I said, if conditions change as we get farther along in the program, I think the chief and the secretary will certainly consider that and release as much as they can. You know one of the issues is the budget for the B-21 is in the unclassified budget, right? So, for example, in the FY18 request that Congress is considering right now, we asked for $2 billion, and I do believe if you\u2019re going to put $2 billion in the budget, then the American people should know what that\u2019s for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And I know that they have talked about some of the activities that they\u2019re doing and that they\u2019re in the development phase and they\u2019re staffing up with all that and also doing their design work \u2014 engineering drawings and that sort of thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you recall from my confirmation hearing, Sen. Angus King said: \u201cI want you to manage the hell out of that program.\u201d So, I\u2019ve taken that seriously. I\u2019ve already gone down [to B-21 prime contractor Northrop Grumman\u2019s facilities] to visit. Even the short time here I\u2019ve gone down to visit the contractor and make sure that they know that I\u2019m watching them, as well as Congress, and we\u2019ll keep the pressure on them to make sure we stay on cost, on schedule and on performance on this very critical program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>What should we expect from the FY19 budget?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You\u2019re familiar with [Defense] Secretary [Jim] Mattis\u2019 budget guidance that he released back about a week after he took over. In FY17, we\u2019re going to concentrate on readiness and filling in the readiness holes. In FY18, we\u2019re going to continue that. And then FY19 is really the first budget that the administration and the members of the administration like the secretary of defense can really do from beginning to end. Of course, he\u2019s also developing a new national defense strategy that\u2019s in conjunction with the national security strategy that\u2019s also being developed by the White House. That has certainly impacted [it].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Do you expect a lot more money to be funneled into modernization?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rebuilding and increases in lethality means that we\u2019ll probably increase capacity and\/or capability depending on which service budget you\u2019re looking at. But the president has said that he\u2019s going to rebuild the military, so we expect once we get the guidance from the national defense strategy, national security strategy that I\u2019ll follow his statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Do you feel like the White House is satisfied now with the progress that the Air Force is making in cutting costs on the Presidential Aircraft Replacement program?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, I believe that. PAR is a different animal because it\u2019s of course the symbol of Air Force One when the president goes and lands someplace, especially in foreign nations. But there are also strict requirements because the president is the commander in chief, [he] has to have communications that are instantly available worldwide. It also has to have some protection to protect the president. It\u2019s a very expensive program. But they have gone through many reviews since this program started to try to reduce costs. One of the things I noticed is that when [Joint Chiefs Chairman] Gen. [Joseph] Dunford testified, he said they removed the aerial refueling capability. That actually was removed in 2013 when they did a requirements review and scrub process. \u2026 Because the new aircraft and the new platform has such longer range and could carry more fuel, that it really was decided that it didn\u2019t need that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>All the way back in 2013?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[During] 2013 was the requirements review, and it was validated by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council in 2014, who issued a new capabilities development document that documented that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Is the Air Force foreseeing a fight on the Hill because of this, though? Sen. Tom Cotton mentioned that he wanted to look into it more.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be perfectly honest, PAR was in my portfolio when I was a PSM [professional staff member] over there. And that surprised me, too. I didn\u2019t know that it didn\u2019t have air-refueling capability because the current VC-25 does have that refueling capability. But from what I understand it\u2019s rarely, if ever, used because it has such large fuel tanks and it can go for such long distances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>But if the goal is to be able to keep the president in a flying White House on the country\u2019s worst day, wouldn\u2019t you want aerial refueling?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m not that familiar with the JROC process that went through this, but I can tell you it was a very deliberate discussion and requirements scrub. JROC is the one who sets the requirements from the Joint Staff and then passes it down through the services as validated requirements. I have no doubt that it went through a very rigorous review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matt Donovan once helped Sen. John McCain hone his criticism of Air Force programs. Now he finds himself on the other side of the budget process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":42897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","your-air-force","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[7,160,29,13,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-21814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-interviews","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CLYGCP5VZZFTNH2HB6ZU2JQB74","arc_canonical_url":"\/interviews\/2017\/11\/06\/interview-air-force-under-secretary-matt-donovan-talks-services-relationship-with-congress\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Interview: Air Force Under Secretary Matt Donovan talks service\u2019s relationship with Congress - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matt Donovan once helped Sen. 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