Durbin: GAO Report Shows Need for DOD to Make Maximum Use of Army's Strategic Plan on Arsenals

Statement

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today made the following statement after reviewing the recommendations contained in a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report he requested -- along with U.S. Senators Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IL) and former U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IL) -- as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Next month, Durbin will be meeting with President Obama's nominee to be Secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning, to discuss this report.

"This report provides an important, independent third party review of how the Department of Defense is using capabilities at three Arsenals -- including Rock Island Arsenal -- designated as Centers of Industrial and Technical Excellence," said Durbin. "It confirms what we already know: that the Department of Defense is underutilizing these Arsenals and lacks a strategic plan to increase workloads. There has been some progress over the last couple of years: new workload has increased, the Humvee production line has been renewed, operations are more efficient and the JMTC receives almost 35% of its work from non-Army sources. But more can be done, and I look forward to discuss the results of this report in an upcoming meeting with President Obama's Army Secretary nominee."

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