{"id":23994,"date":"2020-07-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/09\/pentagon-reform-boss-on-eliminating-entire-office-this-is-a-guaranteed-failure\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:01:26","slug":"pentagon-reform-boss-on-eliminating-entire-office-this-is-a-guaranteed-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2020\/07\/09\/pentagon-reform-boss-on-eliminating-entire-office-this-is-a-guaranteed-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon reform boss on eliminating entire office: \u2018This is a guaranteed failure\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Pentagon\u2019s chief management officer has pushed back on congressional plans to eliminate her office<\/a>, warning that doing so now guarantees the failure of reform efforts at the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an exclusive interview with Defense News, Lisa Hershman<\/a>, who was confirmed as the CMO in December 2019, stressed that any serious reform effort at the Defense Department requires a full-time official focused on it, one with high-level authority to make choices and force change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the thing: Congress has a choice to make,\u201d Hershman said Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s really about how serious Congress is about reform. And I mean real reform, where we\u2019re moving not only big numbers, but making fundamental changes in how we do business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard. It\u2019s uncomfortable. It\u2019s difficult for people,\u201d she added. \u201cSo, they have a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her comments come a week after the House Armed Services Committee agreed with its Senate counterpart that the CMO\u2019s office is not working as intended and should be eliminated. Both committees put such language in their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act, although with different details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate Armed Service Committee\u2019s version<\/a> mandates the CMO\u2019s office be broken up no later than Sept. 30, 2022, with the majority of the authorities going to the deputy defense secretary, who would then create a new performance improvement officer role that reports up to the deputy defense secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the HASC version<\/a> gives the defense secretary the decision-making power on where to transfer the CMO\u2019s authorities, so long as that person was not previously the chief management officer. That change would have to happen within 30 days of the NDAA\u2019s enactment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both versions need to be reconciled between each other, as well as approved by the full Congress. But it is unlikely that anyone outside the defense committees will raise enough of a fight to ensure the CMO\u2019s office emerges intact following the NDAA\u2019s eventual passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if there were any positives in the proposed changes, Hershman was direct, saying: \u201cI don\u2019t. To be very blunt, no, I don\u2019t see anything positive. The fact that they are reducing the role, regardless of which version, to a lower or lesser level\u201d means that \u201cthis is a guaranteed failure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t