Just a little more than two years after the Pentagon complied with a Congressional mandate to create a new senior position to focus on business management and reform, lawmakers appear fully prepared to abandon the idea.
The Senate’s version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, released by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, includes provisions would eliminate the position of Defense Department chief management officer. If enacted, it would follow through on an intention Congress expressed in last year’s bill, when lawmakers included language opining that DoD has “faced significant structural challenges in implementing the Chief Management Officer position since its inception.”
The inception wasn’t all that long ago. Congress created the CMO’s office in the 2017 NDAA, making it the Pentagon’s third-highest ranking position, and it didn’t take effect until February of 2018.
Even so, the office is viewed “nearly unanimously” as having not met Congress’ intent of driving lasting and meaningful business reforms throughout the military services and Defense agencies, according to a Congressionally-directed study the Defense Business…
