Reform, Ohio Replacement Fund; Top Changes In NDAA

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/09/reform-ohio-replacement-fund-top-5-changes-in-this-years-ndaa-aeis-eaglen/



Reform, Ohio Replacement Fund; Top Changes In NDAA
By Mackenzie Eaglen on September 30, 2015 at 5:51 PM

With the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act completed and headed to the president’s desk likely sometime next week, it’s useful to summarize the biggest policy changes therein. While most Republicans do not take the veto threat seriously, Mr. Obama will surely do just that. Still, when this bill eventually receives his signature later this year or early next year, it will be—for all practical purposes—a near-exact version as to what is now public. The only difference will (hopefully) be a small budget deal to fund the government after December 11th negotiated between the White House and Congressional Republicans.

Highlights of this year’s defense policy bill crafted by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jack Reed (D-RI) and Representatives Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Adam Smith (D-WA) include significant bipartisan changes in acquisition reform, military retirement, US policy in the South China Sea, and a strategy for the eventual closure of Guantanamo Bay.

Additionally, the Congressional leadership shown by McCain and Thornberry was ever more impressive for having silenced arguments on the far right for lower defense spending. Fiscal hawks can no longer deny that Congress and the Pentagon are making real improvements in efficiency. Broadly, this year’s defense authorization bill may be the beginning of the end of the liberal-Tea Party coalition against reasonable levels of defense spending based on the needs of and increasing risk to the military.

Defense Acquisition Reform

The 2016 defense policy bill starts anew on real acquisition reform—the first real effort since the last round of streamlining in the 1990s. Since then, the system has once again accumulated regulatory barnacles and suffered from half-hearted attempts to fix specific problems with one-size-fits-all defense-wide rules. Senator McCain prevailed in his effort to force the department to study just how much all these regulatory layers and compliance cost taxpayers each year. The reform effort comes not a moment too late, as the rapid acquisition authorities jury-rigged during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan near expiration, even as the military loses its technological edge against its adversaries.