GAO Report Finds Flaws in Carrier Move Decision

Press Release

A government watchdog investigation ordered by Congressman Glenn Nye (VA-02) found that the Navy's decision-making process in the controversial Mayport homeporting proposal was fundamentally flawed.

In a report released on Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) wrote that the key Navy processes for making basing decisions "do not describe how risk is evaluated and who conducts this analysis."

Those same flawed processes were also used to develop the Navy's proposal to create a redundant East Coast nuclear carrier homeport, the GAO discovered.

"Throughout this process, even before I took office, the Navy has never offered a clear, risk-based rationale for creating a redundant nuclear carrier homeport, and that's why I ordered the GAO to investigate," said Congressman Glenn Nye. "The GAO found critical flaws in the way the Navy evaluates risk and makes basing decisions, even when compared with the other branches of the military."

Congressman Glenn Nye serves on the House Armed Services Committee and has been leading the effort to block the Navy's controversial homeporting proposal. Nye ordered the GAO investigation last year in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.

The GAO report reads, in part:

"First, the Navy's Strategic Laydown Process Flow Chart does not describe how risk assessment should be evaluated. Second, the Navy's Strategic Dispersal Flow Chart does not show how and who is responsible for conducting and evaluating risk assessment…"

"Navy officials told us that the flow charts describing its strategic laydown and strategic dispersal processes were the primary documentation used to support Navy's basing methodology…."

"The Department of the Navy made its recent decision to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Naval Station Mayport using its strategic laydown and strategic dispersal processes…"

The GAO report also highlighted that the decision-making processes used by the other military services do not have the same flaws:

"Our assessment found that the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force basing processes incorporated all of the key elements, associated factors and management control standards that we identified as necessary… However the Navy has not provided complete guidance for its infrastructure analysis…."

Hampton Roads Military Affairs Commission to Meet
With the release of the GAO report, Congressman Nye called a meeting of the Hampton Roads Military Affairs Commission this coming Monday, May 17th in Virginia Beach. The commission was organized by Nye last year to bring together local, state and federal lawmakers, business leaders, and military experts to address military issues affecting the entire region.

"We need to focus our limited defense dollars on priorities with a clear need, like repairing our ships and equipping our troops in harm's way, and we can't afford to divert over $1 billion to an unjustified, unsupported proposal," Nye said.

The meeting will discuss the GAO investigation as well as the results of Nye's visit to Naval Station Mayport last month. The commission previously met in February after Navy officials gave conflicting explanations for the carrier move to Nye and other members of the Hampton Roads delegation on the House Armed Services Committee.

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