Army secretary again casts fear of constant budget instability

The Army’s new civilian leader on Tuesday again called for steady, predictable funding as the service trains and prepares to face a growing array of threats around the world.

“Where I sit, the biggest threat to the Department of Defense, not just the Department of the Army, is the budget instability and political environment,” said Army Secretary Eric Fanning. “We start every year with a [continuing resolution] and don’t really know what number to plan to into the future. Not only are we not able to provide some stability to soldiers, we’re not getting our dollars’ worth out of our resources.”

Fanning, who was sworn in May 18 after a bumpy eight-month confirmation process, also said the Army must do a better job of telling the American people and lawmakers about the many missions it conducts at home and around the world.

“The Army’s so big, with so many missions, it’s hard to put it on a bumper sticker,” Fanning said, adding that the Army is often discussed in terms of its end-strength numbers.

“We have to get away from the numbers,” he said. “I think the key is really connecting, looking for opportunities to reach out. It’s the Army taking full ownership of all the things it does. I was surprised when I arrived to see how much the Army does to support the other services and how much the other services depend on the Army to do what they do.”
Fanning spoke Tuesday during a wide-ranging discussion at a breakfast hosted by the Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. The session was moderated by retired Gen. Carter Ham, who on July 1 will succeed retired Gen. Gordon Sullivan as the president of AUSA. Also in attendance was Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey and several other senior Army leaders.

Here’s what else he said.

What are the principle threats the Army must be prepared to face?

In addition to its struggle with the budget, the Army also is faced with preparing for an unknown future in an increasingly volatile world, Fanning said.

“You’ve got many lieutenant colonels and majors who’ve fought one type of war,” he said. “Trying to get the Army trained and thinking about other contingencies … is important, and we’re not moving at it as fast as we might, again, because of that [budget] instability.”
Fanning cited as an example his recent trip to Poland for Exercise Anakonda and watching soldiers learn how to camouflage themselves to blend into the environment or do laundry without the support of an already built forward operating base.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to orient the Army toward other types of fighting,” he said.

One of your priorities is taking care of soldiers. How do you plan to do that?

“First of all, taking care of soldiers, this is all based on resilience, is making sure our soldiers can do what is asked of them and getting more of our soldiers ready to deploy,” Fanning said.

Fanning said the Army also must do more to combat sexual assault and suicide, as well as the stigma attached to getting seeking behavioral health care.

He also is focused on taking care of soldiers’ families.

“As I look across the Army, I see this pace of deployments we have, one thing we want to do for soldiers who are deployed is that we’re taking care of their families,” he said.

What do you think about Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s recently announced Force of the Future initiatives?

Among the initiatives is a proposal to allow the services to bring in highly skilled individuals — in areas such as cyber, for example — at a higher rank instead of having them start off as privates or second lieutenants.

“A lot of what the secretary of defense has been talking about, as it is applied, is really giving authorities to the services,” Fanning said. “We’re determining which of those we want to use. I’ll take as much flexibility as we can get.”
Do you anticipate any cuts to the Army’s civilian workforce?

Army civilians are “an integral part of what we do, and they get caught in the political vice every year, which is unfair,” Fanning said. “These are scientists. These are technicians. They run our schoolhouses. They run our ranges. What we need to make sure is that our workforce is balanced.”

Fanning said he doesn’t know “exactly” what the Army will do with the size of the civilian workforce, but “we need to do this thoughtfully.”
You’re active on social media. How effective has that been?

Fanning said he views social media as a way to communicate as well as connect with soldiers and the public alike.

“There’s a growing divide between those who serve and those who are protected. That’s not good,” he said. “I’ll use any tool I can to try and connect and tell the Army story. That’s really what this is meant to do, to grow an audience and start sharing what the Army does.”