U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, senior member of Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), today participated in a SASC full committee hearing on the future of defense reform with former Defense Sec. Robert Gates as a witness. Inhofe questioned Gates about how the Pentagon can best absorb budget cuts in a way that effectively and responsibly streamlines operations and continues to meet our current national security needs.
In his question, Inhofe highlighted how bureaucracies often fail to achieve balance and preserve critical operation competencies when adjusting to budget cuts. Highlighting an example of his own efforts to reform the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) budget, Inhofe said bureaucracies often target spending cuts towards programs that would scare the public from demanding further fiscal restraint.
Inhofe said, "Bureaucracies don't want to get smaller, they want to grow So every time it seems that there is a bureaucracy that is asked to reduce its overhead -- and that's what we're talking about today, headquarters, its overhead -- they will pick out, cherry-pick something that they do that the public is so concerned about."