Letter to the Honorable Michèle Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Letter

Letter to the Honorable Michèle Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Webb: Ship Maintenance Shortfall, Billions in Unfunded Priorities Compel Retention of Aircraft Carrier in Norfolk

Warns of Adverse Impacts that Backlog could have on Fleet Readiness & Shipyard Workers

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) told the Department of Defense (DoD) today that the Navy's $417-million shortfall in fiscal year 2009 funding for ship maintenance, coupled with unfunded budget requirements of $4.6 billion, provide a "compelling argument for the DoD to disapprove any Navy funding request for homeporting a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Mayport, Florida."

In a letter to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy, Webb said the level of unfunded maintenance could have "significant adverse impacts on near-term fleet readiness and employment levels" in multiple homeports on the East and West Coasts. Webb also asked that early action be taken on the homeporting proposal.

"Given today's extraordinary financial crisis, the Obama administration's expressed call to reduce non-critical federal spending, and the compelling requirement to fund higher-priority Navy budget requirements, the Navy's homeporting proposal for Mayport is fiscally irresponsible," Webb said.

Last year, the Navy identified $4.6 billion in fiscal year 2009 unfunded budget requirements. The service's unfunded requirements for fiscal year 2010 will be made known when the Obama administration submits its defense budget request to Congress later this year.

During their Senate confirmation hearings in January, Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn and Under Secretary Flournoy committed to Senator Webb to review the Navy's homeporting decision for Mayport. "From a policy or strategy perspective, taking a look at our global posture including our homeporting and basing structure is certainly going to be on the table and will be a part of the QDR [Quadrennial Defense Review] as we move forward," said Flournoy.

The Navy's current ship maintenance funding shortfall resulted from the service's reliance on so-called emergency defense supplemental appropriations to fund its predictable, scheduled requirements. If required funding is not provided, fleet readiness will suffer and private ship-repair companies will be obliged to send workers home.

Said Webb: "During the economic crisis at hand, such an approach is unconscionable."

Senator Webb stressed in his letter that funding for routine ship maintenance should be included in the core budget: "The Navy's reliance on emergency defense supplemental appropriations to fund routine ship maintenance in recent years begs for your re-examination."

A full copy of the letter from Senator Webb to Under Secretary Flournoy follows:

March 17, 2009

The Honorable Michèle Flournoy
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
The Department of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301

Dear Secretary Flournoy:

My purpose in writing is to bring to your attention a $417 million shortfall in the Navy's fiscal year 2009 funding for ship maintenance on both the East and West Coasts. Should the final increment of the FY-2009 emergency defense supplemental not fund this requirement adequately, significant adverse impacts on near-term fleet readiness and employment levels at private ship-repair companies in multiple homeports will likely occur later this year.

For these reasons, there is an even more compelling argument for the Department of Defense (DoD) to disapprove any Navy request to include funding in its FY-2010 budget request for homeporting a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Mayport, Fla. The Navy currently estimates this relocation would cost in excess of $600 million, but I am confident - based on extensive past experience - that the total cost would eventually exceed $1 billion. At a time when the Navy is not funding many high-priority operational, military construction, and fleet-support requirements, it is unconscionable to waste taxpayer dollars on such a strategically unnecessary and fiscally irresponsible homeporting project.

I have enclosed a commentary written by Everett Pyatt that was published in the Virginian Pilot newspaper this month. Mr. Pyatt, a senior Navy acquisition official in both the Carter and Reagan administrations, said that he was "shocked" to learn of the Navy's homeporting proposal. "This proposal does not pass the common-sense test," he wrote, "and is not worth the minimum $671 million to implement it." He identifies more affordable and strategically sound homeporting options for Mayport.

During your confirmation hearing in January, both you and Deputy Secretary of Defense Lynn committed to review the Navy's homeporting proposal at the OSD level. I appreciated your stated intention to do so. I would suggest that, in the face of the Navy's many major 2009 and 2010 unfunded requirements, an early decision is advisable.

On a relevant and equally important note, the Navy's reliance on emergency defense supplemental appropriations to fund routine ship maintenance in recent years begs for your re-examination. Predictable ship maintenance should not be funded through emergency supplementals. Such funding should be included in the core budget, and it should be protected. Should the Navy not receive necessary funding in the remaining FY-2009 supplemental, numerous ship-maintenance availabilities could be descoped or deferred until next year. Fleet readiness will suffer, and our private ship-repair companies will be obliged to send workers home. During the economic crisis at hand, such prospects are unconscionable.

I am mindful of the many pressing issues you face during the early months of the new administration, but I believe the extraordinary costs associated with the Navy's carrier homeporting proposal mandate early DoD action. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Jim Webb
United States Senator

CC: The Honorable Robert F. Hale

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