Rep. Mac Thornberry laid out his plan on Wednesday for what he hopes to accomplish this year as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Among the top priorities for the Texas Republican are reforming the military’s healthcare system, building on acquisition reforms included in the fiscal 2016 defense policy law and simplifying the Defense Department’s organizational structure.
Speaking specifically about acquisition reform, which has been a priority for Thornberry since taking over as chairman, he said he would work to encourage more experimentation and prototyping into the Pentagon’s design and acquisition process.
“If every experiment is a success, we’re not learning much,” Thornberry said during a National Press Club luncheon.
Thornberry said he planned to submit a standalone bill this year, make changes based on feedback from his colleagues, then insert the finalized language into the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, similar to the process he followed for the changes included in the fiscal 2016 bill.
Thornberry also talked about reforming the Pentagon’s bureaucracy by simplifying some headquarters and chain-of-command processes. He said the committee will begin a review of the Goldwater-Nichols organizational structure that has governed the military for 30 years, but stressed that all the changes that are needed can’t be completed in one Congress.
“We will not get everything done this year that needs to be done, but at the same time, we’re not going to be sidetracked by all the voices that say, oh there’s no use trying, it’s just too hard, it’s just too complicated, too big a mess,” Thornberry said. “We are going to fulfill our responsibilities under the constitution.”
He pointed out that critics said the Defense Department’s retirement system could never be reformed, but that sweeping changes were included in the fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that involved grandfathering those currently serving into the old program.
He said those trying to bring about broader entitlement reform should look at using that as a blueprint and take a similar approach.
