Letter to the Hon. Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense - Grassley Urges Esper in Handwritten Note to Commit to Fiscal Responsibility, Reform at DoD
Letter
Dear Secretary Esper:
I first want to congratulate you on your confirmation on becoming Secretary of Defense for the United States of America. It is now your great honor and responsibility to lead the greatest military in the world, as well as manage one of the United States of America's largest financial commitments.
When we met last week, I was impressed with your commitment to rein in wasteful spending and get the Pentagon's financial problems in order. I mentioned to you that I thought highly of former Secretary of Defense James Mattis's July 2017 memorandum in which he committed to rooting out waste at the Department of Defense, citing the necessity for budgetary discipline, a culture of cost awareness, accountability of Department employees, and the importance of earning the trust and confidence of the Congress and the American people. As you begin your tenure as Secretary of Defense, I respectfully encourage you to adopt the same policies by reissuing the memorandum under your signature. By doing so, I believe you would do much to encourage the cultural changes you are trying to affect and would cement these policies as standard operating procedure at the Department of Defense. This is a leadership opportunity not to be missed. And it will do much to set the tone for what I hope will be an extraordinarily successful time as the leader of the greatest military in the world.
PS: I appreciate your commitment to changing the culture at DoD. Safeguarding taxpayers' money and reining in waste is crucial to military readiness and supporting our Americans in arms. Please fight to accomplish our mutual goals. If you decide to reissue the Mattis policy on waste, please put some teeth in it. Those who violate the rules should be fired. Please energize the IG to help you fight the war on waste. He hardly ever uses the word "waste' in his reports!!! I stand ready to help you.
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