Lawmakers: Give Us Gates, and Give Us Documents - Wall Street Journal

Lawmakers are reaching for a rarely used tool — their subpoena power — in an effort to push back against the administration’s cost-cutting drive at the Pentagon.

In a letter sent Thursday night, 37 House members asked that House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D., Mo.) and ranking Republican Buck McKeon of California require Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to testify before the committee – and, if necessary, to subpoena him.

“If the request [to appear] is refused, we ask that you immediately utilize all means available to compel him to appear to testify before this committee,” the letter states.

This summer, Gates launched a sweeping initiative to find $100 billion in cost savings over the next five fiscal years, funds that are supposed to be shifted internally to maintain troop strength and pay for modernized equipment. But lawmakers claim they are being stymied in their efforts to get the Department of Defense to answer questions and provide documentation about some initiatives, such as a plan to close Joint Forces Command, a headquarters organization based in Norfolk, Va.

“A decision of this magnitude should not be made without careful reflection, supported by rigorous analysis,” the letter states.

Some lawmakers say they are unhappy with what they see as a pattern of making decisions behind closed doors. In a statement, Rep. Randy Forbes (R., Va.), said Armed Services Committee members “are beyond frustrated with the unparalleled degree of Pentagon secrecy surrounding decisions that carry enormous impact on national security. We have been thwarted, blocked, ignored and stymied by the Department at every turn.”

The letter follows a week of occasionally contentious hearings in both House and Senate on Gates’ plan to wring more efficiency out of the defense budget. Some of the sharpest criticism has come from the Virginia congressional delegation, which is putting up a fight to save Joint Forces Command.

A Tuesday hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee turned especially confrontational when Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb blasted Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn over the Pentagon leadership’s handling of the announcement, which he said had been marked by a “lack of transparency and consultation” with the Virginia delegation.

“On August the 9th, Secretary Lynn, you called me 15 minutes before this decision was publicly announced,” Webb said. “That’s not the way to conduct a review that has enormous implications to our defense and also to community interests. I believe in another sport, it’s called stiff-arming.”

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