{"id":26846,"date":"2020-12-04T13:48:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T13:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/04\/they-need-to-answer-to-this-pentagon-cmo-says-as-congress-moves-to-shutter-office\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:54:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:54:37","slug":"they-need-to-answer-to-this-pentagon-cmo-says-as-congress-moves-to-shutter-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/12\/04\/they-need-to-answer-to-this-pentagon-cmo-says-as-congress-moves-to-shutter-office\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They need to answer to this\u2019: Pentagon CMO pushes back as Congress moves to shutter office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Language in the proposed fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act<\/a> eliminates the Pentagon\u2019s Chief Management Officer<\/a> job, a move that the woman who has held the job said will harm taxpayers and military readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to understand how the most successful reform effort in history is essentially being eliminated,\u201d Lisa Hershman, the Pentagon\u2019s CMO, told Defense News shortly after the NDAA language was released Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing. I\u2019m not exactly sure what or who [defense committee leaders] were listening to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatives from the House and Senate Armed Services Committees agreed to a conference report of the NDAA this week, with a vote likely to come next week. Despite a veto threat<\/a> from President Donald Trump, the NDAA is expected to pass comfortably in both chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means Congress has all-but-decided to eliminate the CMO\u2019s office, roughly four years<\/a> after lawmakers created the role and made it third-in-line at the department, with the goal of having a single point person for reform efforts inside the world\u2019s largest bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members have said the office has not moved fast enough to deliver reforms, with Rep. Mac Thornberry, the retiring top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, saying in June<\/a> that \u201cCongress is largely responsible for making this an impossible job, and we need to figure out something different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are starting to see some real payoff from what [reform legislation] we\u2019ve done in recent years. No they\u2019re not moving fast enough. No, it\u2019s not enough,\u201d Thornberry said then, of DoD reform efforts writ large. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to hold their feet to the fire on some of the things we\u2019ve already told them to do in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the CMO\u2019s office will be dismantled no later than one year after the passage of the NDAA, with all duties and responsibilities dispersed among different officials as directed by the Secretary of Defense. In addition, the secretary must submit a report to Congress including \u201cany legislative proposals necessary to effectuate the changes to law made by this section. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The office experienced turbulence from the start, with the first confirmed CMO, Jay Gibson, was forced out of office after just nine months<\/a>. He was replaced by Hershman, the deputy CMO, who served as acting CMO for over a year before receiving a confirmation vote herself<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, Hershman was careful to note that a bipartisan group of lawmakers<\/a> had backed the CMO\u2019s office, but expressed frustration with how the process ultimately ended up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to understand their justification,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery dollar saved through reform went to the warfighter directly. Every dime of what we saved made them safer and more lethal. This was a big win for the taxpayers, freeing up $37 billion of budgeted funds through reform and increased efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongress has given no justification for eliminating the CMO. Since 2018 when the role was created we have validated $37 billion in savings, eliminated hundreds of unnecessary regulations, and created the first unified Fourth Estate budget in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite all that success, I\u2019ve never been asked to testify \u2014 on the accomplishments, visions, next steps, none of it. I\u2019ve never been asked by either the House or the Senate, any subcommittee to make any kind of testimony on the facts. They need to answer to this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t