GAO: Pentagon Leaders Need More Tech Budget Control

GAO report urges Congress to give DoD leadership more control over service-specific tech budgets; Army, Navy, and Air Force all disagreed with the proposal.

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends that Congress grant the Secretary of Defense and other Pentagon civilian leaders greater direct control over the technology and innovation budgets of the individual military services. The findings, delivered to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, argue that centralizing oversight of funding for areas like artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities, and joint networking capabilities would accelerate the adoption of critical technologies and reduce wasteful duplication.

Currently, the Army, Navy, and Air Force manage the majority of their own research, development, and procurement budgets, with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) exercising limited coordination authority. The GAO contends this decentralized model has led to incompatible systems, slower fielding of cross-service capabilities, and an inability to rapidly pivot funding toward high-priority, department-wide initiatives.

Unsurprisingly, the recommendation was met with firm opposition from the services. In formal responses appended to the report, the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force each “disagreed” with the proposal, arguing it would undermine their autonomy to address service-unique requirements, stifle innovation, and add bureaucratic layers that delay procurement. They advocated for improved collaboration rather than budgetary centralization.

The debate strikes at the core of the Pentagon's ongoing struggle to modernize. Proponents of the GAO's view cite the urgent need for “jointness” and agile response to pacing threats like China. Opponents, including many uniformed leaders, fear a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to account for the distinct operational environments of land, sea, air, and space domains.

Congress will now weigh the recommendation as it drafts the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The report adds fuel to a long-standing power struggle between the Pentagon's central leadership and the historically powerful, culturally distinct military services.