WASHINGTON — The Senate's No. 2 Democrat on Thursday asked the Pentagon to respond to $125 billion in waste-reduction proposals republicized this week.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Sen. Dick Durbin, who is the Senate minority whip and ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, voiced concern about runaway contractor costs in particular.


Durbin's letter paralleled letters from other lawmakers to Carter asking for information about a 2015 Defense Business Board (DBB) report that recently surfaced in the news. 

The 31 members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in one such  letter, focus on allegations that Pentagon leaders shelved the study.

That letter questions "why learning about potential savings that would be enough to 'cover the operational costs for 50 Army brigades, or 3,000 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force, or 10 aircraft-carrier strike groups for the Navy,' would not also be a priority."

Durbin Letter to Carter on DoD Waste: Download PDF

The House Progressive Caucus also denounced the reported wasteful spending in a series of statements. Among them, Rep. Keith Ellison, the caucus co-chair and a contender to chair the Democratic National Committee, called Pentagon spending practices irresponsible and unacceptable.

"The $125 billion that was wasted in the Pentagon ... could have repaired crumbling bridges, sent kids to college and helped families afford decent housing," said Ellison, D-Minn. "This investigation makes it clear we need to prioritize defense spending that serves our troops and our country more efficiently."

Durbin cited the advisory group's study to argue the Department of Defense could be saving as much as $36 billion through reforms to contracted services and urged "immediate steps to curb this waste." Durbin accused the DoD of ignoring past reports on the topic.

"My subcommittee has been particularly concerned about the unwillingness of the Department to manage the mix of civilian, military, and contractor personnel in order to avoid wasteful spending," Durbin said in the letter, obtained by Defense News.

"As far back as a [sic] March 2013, the department's leadership testified to the subcommittee that civilian personnel are two to three times cheaper than their full-time equivalent contractors. Only recently has the Department begun to accurately track the number of contractors. And despite numerous reports and proposed reforms by the Government Accountability Office, the Department does not adequately utilize this information to inform its management of the total force."

Durbin highlighted his subcommittee's efforts to make the DoD more efficient and cited the board's "common-sense" suggestions:

  • Reductions in contract labor, including backfill of needed positions with civilian workers.
  • Creation of specialized teams to scour weapons contracts for efficiencies and additional savings.
  • Modernization of information technology to eliminate old, wasteful systems.
  • Improving management of real estate contract spending.

Durbin requested Carter supply his subcommittee with a response to the DBB proposals within 30 days.

The letter comes after The Washington Post reported on a 2-year-old DBB study that highlighted pools of administrative waste in the DoD's business operations. 

The newspaper alleged that the DBB's findings, ordered by the DoD, was buried by Pentagon leadership, though the Pentagon and White House deny this. Defense News was among the publications that reported on the findings in 2015.

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook was quoted by The Associated Press as saying senior managers at the Pentagon concluded that the study, "while well-intentioned, had limited value" because it didn't take into account existing programs to improve efficiency and because it lacked "specific, actionable recommendations appropriate to the department."


Besides Durbin's letter, Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are among the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee who have publicly called for accountability.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote a letterto Carter asking what is being done in response to the findings.

The discovery that "more resources for the troops and weapons could be achieved by simply reallocating billions of dollars currently being wasted on excessive bureaucracy," Flake said, was a "win-win."

Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.

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