Congressional hold’em

Congressional hold’em

By Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 5:53 pm
Posted in Land, Policy

It’s been a long summer for Heidi Shyu, the Army’s acting acquisition’s chief.

Shyu has been stuck in a holding pattern waiting for the Senate to confirm her as the service’s next Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisitions, Logistics and Technology as she shoulders the post’s responsibilities of overseeing $28 billion worth of Army programs.

Things began to look up at the start of August when Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., released his nomination hold on the Shyu’s confirmation. Coburn placed a hold on Shyu in early June because he was frustrated by the sluggish pace of the Army’s Improved Carbine Competition, an effort that began in June 2011 and is slated to last for another two years.


Coburn still isn’t satisfied with Army small arms modernization, but said he was pleased at Shyu’s responsiveness to his demands for information.

But that’s only half of Shyu’s problem since her confirmation to acquisition’s chief is still on hold.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has also decided to stall Shyu’s nomination. He placed a hold on Shyu in June to shine a spotlight on a Defense Department contract with a Russian state-controlled arms export firm that has sold military equipment to Syria.

The U.S. Defense Department spent $171 million on a no-bid contract with Rosoboronexport to buy 30 Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghan air force. Cornyn said he wants to open up the competition and for the U.S. to buy the helicopters from a company that is not selling arms to Syria.

This subtle game of political extortion is commonplace in the complex world of senior military posts.

Shyu is not the only military nominee to become ensnared in the hold process. Air Cornyn just released his hold on Air Force Gen. Mark Welsh’s nomination to become that service’s next Chief of Staff. Cornyn originally placed the hold on Welsh over his concerns with the sexual assault scandal at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

So what has been accomplished here? Aside from the political mileage that Coburn and Cornyn have gained, what has changed?
It’s unlikely that Welsh will stamp out the ugliness of sexual assault that seems to fester in the ranks despite countless reform efforts.

Coburn has managed to pressure the Army to consider new carbine designs that could possibly replace the long-serving M16/M4 family of individual weapons. But new carbines fade off the pages of Army procurement priorities – a list that features a sophisticated communications network, the new Ground Combat Vehicle and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle at the top.

So, congressional nomination holds – a vital tool of democracy or selfish ploy for political grandstanding? You decide.

Join the Conversation

Drake August 7th, 2012 at 6:34 pm

The Afghans already know how to fly and repair Russian helicopters on the cheap. Dragging issues over Syria into this, is just going to increase costs of the helicopter force for the American taxpayer. A helicopter force that is already likely to fall into disrepair like everything else we leave in Afghan hands.

ghostwhowalks August 7th, 2012 at 7:26 pm

And of course the US provides spare parts for attack helicopters and F16s that Israel has used against Palestinian cities or in one case flattening an entire Beirut suburb.

Chaostician August 7th, 2012 at 7:59 pm

someone please explain to me the logic of spending $171M on a sole source contract for 30 mi-17 helicopters.

Lance August 7th, 2012 at 10:05 pm

Colburn is the Biggest Idiots in congress. the reason ICC is failing is that no new Carbine is much better than the M-4 and so no reason to replace it. All other US services are and will not goto a new weapon so the whole idea of ICC died. Plus the fact the Army is buying tens of thousands of M-4s from Remington now.

Overall this is the reason congress will garentee sequestration there own greed and politics will ensure a train wreck this year.

bobbymike August 7th, 2012 at 10:46 pm

Yes and Israel just bombs for fun never in retaliation or in self defense.

This is reality;

If Israel’s enemies laid down their arms there would be no more war

If Israel laid down their arms there would be no Israel

I defy anyone to say that’s isn’t accurate.

ghostwhowalks August 8th, 2012 at 1:54 am

Who was saying anything about which is right or wrong. It was about who is supplying the weapons to use on civilians– which is a war crime by the way no matter the reason

Jeff August 8th, 2012 at 12:46 pm

I tend to agree. You look at the performance and reports from the different testing and it pretty apparent that while some submissions perform better than M4s they impose substantial costs for margnial gains. The evolution of the M16 family of weapons has been a step by step progression, but the Army sees the next step as expensive enough that the Army should ask for something more radical. You look at the Army’s “requests from industry” they want “hyperburst fire” and extreme weight reductions of arms and munitions… not just an efficiency gain from utilizing a piston mechanism that adds weight.

Vietvet1968 August 8th, 2012 at 2:28 pm

Every single time a politician enters the picture that does not concern them, the always seem to screw the pooch. They have been doing this since Vietnam. And you wonder why we can not win a fight or a war. Get the Congress of the United States out of the picture and let the military do its job. Other wise give every Congressmen or women an M4 and let them stand a post.

Rhys F August 9th, 2012 at 6:31 am

Sole source of that type of helicopters… Rosboroexport is a government monopoly export board type organisation, buying from elsewhere would mean buying from whatever shady gun-runner has them in hand and wants the cash. At least RoBoEx is state sponsored and people know where to place the balme when the shit hits the fan later.

And why give Afghans a new type of helicopter, that costs more, is more advanced, requires higher levels of maintenance when you can buy and give them what they have used in the past, know how to maintain and is designed for moronic conscript army maintenance corps in the first place…

top dog August 9th, 2012 at 11:34 am

“So, congressional nomination holds – a vital tool of democracy or selfish ploy for political grandstanding? You decide.“___________________________________________It’s political grandstanding, Congress shouldn’t even get involved in this, other than providing the funds, or not providing funds, thats it.

Frustrated Tax Payer August 9th, 2012 at 1:39 pm

If they had to the war conflict would have been over in a week.

No more politicians August 9th, 2012 at 1:44 pm

So every government on the planet is guilty of war crimes by that definition. It was acceptable practice to target civilians in the past. If we are willing to kill people why shy away from saying what it is? Murder is Murder is Murder.

You are right August 9th, 2012 at 1:44 pm

Amen.

Concerned Taxpayer August 9th, 2012 at 4:23 pm

Someone needs to put a HOLD on Congress’ paycheck until they do some work! Hey, now that’s a concept!

B.D. August 9th, 2012 at 7:29 pm

Isreal goes to great pains to precisely target facilites and indivduals whenever possible, sometimes to the point of not being able to engage a target. The same cannot be said of the Pali’s who use car bombs to take out neighborhoods and scatter MRL around the urban centers.
Hardlay warcrime material unelss one were to talk about the Pali’s being the criminals…

Sev August 9th, 2012 at 9:15 pm

Can somebody please explain to me why a person with no experience in the army or in combat is overseeing the Army’s equipment aquisitions?

tmb2 August 9th, 2012 at 10:24 pm

Her job is to oversee all the programs the Army has going. Each of those programs is headed by a Colonel. She isn’t supposed to personally evaluate all these different programs, but know how to manage it all on the business side. She wasn’t in the military, but she had quite a bit of experience in R&D in the industry. From her bio:

Heidi Shyu has served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ALT) since June 2011, and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for ALT since November 2010. Prior to joining the Administration, Ms. Shyu worked for the Raytheon Company from 1997 to 2010.

During that time, she held several leadership positions including Vice President of Technology Strategy for Space and Airborne Systems (2009–2010), Corporate Vice President of Technology and Research (2007–2009), Vice President and Technical Director for Space and Airborne Systems (2004–2007), and Vice President of Unmanned and Reconnaissance Systems (2002–2003).

Prior to working at Raytheon, Ms. Shyu worked for Hughes Aircraft Company (1992–1997), Litton (1990–1991), and Grumman Aerospace (1989–1990). She began her career in 1978 as an Engineer for Hughes Aircraft Company. Ms. Shyu holds a B.S. from University of New Brunswick in Canada, an M.S. from the University of Toronto, and an M.S.E.E. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Sev August 9th, 2012 at 11:20 pm

Thanks for explaining that

WRG01 August 10th, 2012 at 10:04 am

I’m not bashing Israel! I have to add in the interest of honest representation of what Israel has done that they HAVE used cluster munitions in sourthern Lebanon that have claimed the lives of civilians. War is hell. I do not believe that the intent was to harm or kill civilians…but, the result was forseeable.

Mitchell August 10th, 2012 at 10:20 am

And if the Palestinians had arms in 1947–1948, the Jews would not have been able to murder thousands of Palestinians, remove millions of others from their homeland during the Nakba, and continue to steal what little land remains for the Palestinians. Fortuneatly, the Jews were supplied with weapons from their Communist friends in Czechoslovakia. The rest of the world turned their backs on the Palestinians, while the US and USSR vied to see which would be first to recognize the gangster state of Israel. I doubt that my comments will be seen here.

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