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Inside Missile Defense
November 7, 2007 The United States has quietly scrapped plans to provide millions in foreign assistance to the Czech Republic, a NATO ally that Defense Secretary Robert Gates thanked last month in Prague for supporting U.S. policies.
The Senate Armed Services Committee last month rejected the Pentagon’s plans to spend $14.6 million on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incident-response equipment and communications gear for the Czech Republic, arguing these projects were not “urgent and emerging military needs.”
The panel similarly blocked plans to spend $250,000 on teaching English to Croatian troops.
These rejections are part of a wider debate between the Bush administration and Congress over how to use the Pentagon’s relatively new “global train and equip” authority, the proposed funding source for the projects.
This authority, also known as the Section 1206 program, lets DOD boost the capacity of foreign militaries, a task traditionally handled by the State Department. But DOD is also required to get permission for each project from Congress.
Lawmakers see the account as a way to address urgent and emerging military needs -- which is exactly how the Pentagon promotes it. The program is an “investment tool to respond to current threats before they become full-blown crises,” according to a DOD budget appeal sent to Congress this month.
Capitol Hill granted the vast majority of the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2007 requests for the program, including projects in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus.
But the committee decided the proposals for the Czech Republic and Croatia were not urgent needs in countries lacking the capacity to conduct counterterrorism operations.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Karen Finn confirmed the panel “identified three programs as not meeting their interpretation of the intent of the legislation.”
The committee saw no reason, for instance, to pay millions for CBRN-response capabilities that the Czech Republic has committed to develop for NATO. The post-Communist state is the lead nation for all CBRN efforts within the alliance.
The Pentagon wanted to spend $6 million to buy the Czech Republic two mobile detection vehicles, two all-terrain vehicles, medical support gear, systems to decontaminate personnel and equipment, heavy protective suits and robots to deal with explosive devices, logistics equipment and a mobile decontamination training facility, according to documents reviewed by sister publication Inside the Pentagon.
DOD also wanted to spend $8.6 million on secure, tactical communications gear for the Czech Republic. This would have included 130 multiband radios and contractor-provided training.
In both cases, the department wanted to have the items under contract or ordered for the Czech Republic by Sept. 30.
But in a Sept. 10 missive to DOD, the committee rejected the two efforts in the NATO country, as well as plans to fund English language training for Croatian troops.
On Sept. 11, the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee cut $19.9 million from the Pentagon’s $105 million reprogramming request for Section 1206 projects, permitting DOD to use the remaining $85 million. DOD implemented that cut by deleting the projects in the Czech Republic and Croatia and trimming funding slightly for approved projects in Bahrain, the Philippines, Mexico and Kazakhstan.
Under current law, DOD, in conjunction with the State Department, can spend $300 million annually on the program. The Bush administration has sought unsuccessfully to get Congress to increase the spending cap to $500 million and grant permanent authority for the program in the FY-08 budget. House and Senate appropriators, as well as House and Senate authorizers, have opposed those ambitions.
The House version of the FY-08 defense appropriations bill deletes all funding for the program. The Senate version of the bill provides $300 million, but strongly recommends moving the program into the State Department’s budget. In an appeal sent to Congress last week, DOD argues it needs the full $500 million and the program should remain in the defense budget.
--Christopher J. Castelli
November 7, 2007 The United States has quietly scrapped plans to provide millions in foreign assistance to the Czech Republic, a NATO ally that Defense Secretary Robert Gates thanked last month in Prague for supporting U.S. policies.
The Senate Armed Services Committee last month rejected the Pentagon’s plans to spend $14.6 million on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incident-response equipment and communications gear for the Czech Republic, arguing these projects were not “urgent and emerging military needs.”
The panel similarly blocked plans to spend $250,000 on teaching English to Croatian troops.
These rejections are part of a wider debate between the Bush administration and Congress over how to use the Pentagon’s relatively new “global train and equip” authority, the proposed funding source for the projects.
This authority, also known as the Section 1206 program, lets DOD boost the capacity of foreign militaries, a task traditionally handled by the State Department. But DOD is also required to get permission for each project from Congress.
Lawmakers see the account as a way to address urgent and emerging military needs -- which is exactly how the Pentagon promotes it. The program is an “investment tool to respond to current threats before they become full-blown crises,” according to a DOD budget appeal sent to Congress this month.
Capitol Hill granted the vast majority of the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2007 requests for the program, including projects in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus.
But the committee decided the proposals for the Czech Republic and Croatia were not urgent needs in countries lacking the capacity to conduct counterterrorism operations.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Karen Finn confirmed the panel “identified three programs as not meeting their interpretation of the intent of the legislation.”
The committee saw no reason, for instance, to pay millions for CBRN-response capabilities that the Czech Republic has committed to develop for NATO. The post-Communist state is the lead nation for all CBRN efforts within the alliance.
The Pentagon wanted to spend $6 million to buy the Czech Republic two mobile detection vehicles, two all-terrain vehicles, medical support gear, systems to decontaminate personnel and equipment, heavy protective suits and robots to deal with explosive devices, logistics equipment and a mobile decontamination training facility, according to documents reviewed by sister publication Inside the Pentagon.
DOD also wanted to spend $8.6 million on secure, tactical communications gear for the Czech Republic. This would have included 130 multiband radios and contractor-provided training.
In both cases, the department wanted to have the items under contract or ordered for the Czech Republic by Sept. 30.
But in a Sept. 10 missive to DOD, the committee rejected the two efforts in the NATO country, as well as plans to fund English language training for Croatian troops.
On Sept. 11, the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee cut $19.9 million from the Pentagon’s $105 million reprogramming request for Section 1206 projects, permitting DOD to use the remaining $85 million. DOD implemented that cut by deleting the projects in the Czech Republic and Croatia and trimming funding slightly for approved projects in Bahrain, the Philippines, Mexico and Kazakhstan.
Under current law, DOD, in conjunction with the State Department, can spend $300 million annually on the program. The Bush administration has sought unsuccessfully to get Congress to increase the spending cap to $500 million and grant permanent authority for the program in the FY-08 budget. House and Senate appropriators, as well as House and Senate authorizers, have opposed those ambitions.
The House version of the FY-08 defense appropriations bill deletes all funding for the program. The Senate version of the bill provides $300 million, but strongly recommends moving the program into the State Department’s budget. In an appeal sent to Congress last week, DOD argues it needs the full $500 million and the program should remain in the defense budget.
--Christopher J. Castelli