A new Government Accountability Office report delving into whether DOD has complied with Congressional tasking to provide meaningful annual master plans for its overseas restructuring efforts finds that the most recent plan “generally exceeded the reporting requirements.” There were just two exceptions, one of which zeroed in on training range issues in Japan and South Korea. GAO said that US Pacific Command “did not describe the challenges DOD faces in addressing training limitations.” The air training range problem in South Korea finally prompted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to threaten to pull USAF elements out, and South Korea now is upgrading a range for USAF use. However, the Pentagon only partially concurred with GAO, saying it would address such training issues “as part of the risk assessment discussion” rather than separately.
House Armed Services Committee members are launching a task force to dig into defense supply chain issues, the panel said March 4. Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) will co-chair the group as it looks at threats to and vulnerabilities in the defense industrial base. Pentagon officials, lawmakers,…