WASHINGTON — Calling acquisition reforms passed earlier this month "only the beginning," the chairs of the US Senate and House Armed Services Committees said Tuesday that they want to go further and plan to hold hearings to review the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act.

The hearings, favored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, amount to a reexamination of sweeping defense legislation that created the military's current chain of command, from president to defense secretary to combatant commanders, bypassing the service chiefs. Yet McCain suggested the legislation, which he called an "unqualified success," needs "a thorough and complete review."

"There are many things that happened in the last 30 years that require adjustments to a fundamentally fine piece of legislation," McCain told reporters after an event at the Brookings Institution, where he and Thornberry challenged President Barack Obama's threat to veto the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The veto could happen as soon as this week, when the NDAA hits President Obama's desk.

Before Goldwater-Nichols, the individual service chiefs reported to the president, and the legislation was meant in part to fix rivalries between the services. NDAA acquisition-reform provisions shift responsibility and accountability over major program cost overruns to the service chiefs, and, on Tuesday, Thornberry suggested that it is time to ask whether the pendulum needs to swing further back.

"I don't think that there's anyone who would say 'turn back the clock,' but we've swung in a direction where there are more layers of bureaucracy, which … ensures that there is no accountability for decisions," Thornberry said. "Plus it is incredibly slow, so simplify so that if somebody makes a decision, you can hold them accountable."

The legislation is also aimed at remedying a labyrinthine acquisition system deemed unfriendly to Silicon Valley and a hindrance to Pentagon efforts to embrace cutting-edge technology. McCain said Tuesday that training and equipping troops in the cyber realm are among "many personnel policies," that need updating.

Citing the Army's rapid fielding of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle to counter roadside bombs at the height of the Iraq war, McCain said streamlining acquisitions is not as hard as it appears.

"That's an example of what we can do if we get the right processes," he said

McCain said he was committed to hearings to address Goldwater-Nichols, though they would have to wait until after the NDAA is resolved.

The president has cited the NDAA's authorization of a $38 billion plus-up to defense through a wartime account known as OCO, which skirts Budget Control Act caps, to reach the president's defense budget request. The president and Democrats are seeking a federal budget deal with Republicans that matches any defense increase on the non-defense side.

At Tuesday's forum, the two chairmen argued that a veto of the NDAA — which affirms the president's defense budget request as a matter of policy, but appropriates no money —  holds the policy bill hostage to make a political point. The duo claimed a veto would not only send the wrong message at a time when the US faces multiple national security dilemmas, but also flush away the NDAA's acquisition reform measures.

"It seems to me he picked the wrong target," McCain said of Obama. "If he cared most about the defense of the nation, he would veto the appropriations bill."
  
The acquisitions reform provisions, Thornberry said, are "only the beginning." Among other priorities, he said the Pentagon must be able to move more quickly to respond to threats, at the best value for the taxpayer. Taking a veiled jab at the Lockheed Martin F-35 program, Thornberry said the NDAA is aimed at "thinning out" procurement regulations, and requires, "more of the work be done up front — not invent-as-you-go."

"Even that first step doesn't happen," Thornberry said, "if the bill doesn't become law."

Email: jgould@defensenews.com

Twitter: @reporterjoe

Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.

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