New Pentagon chief calls for improving warfighting readiness

In his first budget guidelines, new US Defence Secretary James Mattis has called for improving warfighting readiness and building a "larger and more lethal" fighting force.

In his four-page budget guidelines signed on Tuesday, Mattis also launched the effort to devise the 2018 National Defence Strategy.

"Yesterday, Secretary Mattis issued budget guidance to the Department, which provides a course of action to strengthen our armed forces and to make our nation more secure," Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said yesterday.

The guidance lays out the framework to achieve those objectives via the budget process, to include a FY17 budget amendment proposal, the FY18 President's Budget request, the 2018 National Defence Strategy and the FY19-23 Defence program.
 

"The Secretary is committed to achieving maximum value from every taxpayer dollar spent on defence. This process reforms our budget process to improve warfighting readiness, fill pressing shortfalls, and build a larger and more lethal force while taking care of our service members and their families," Davis said.

The guidelines seek to address "urgent warfighting readiness shortfall across the joint force," and new requirements driven by acceleration of the campaign against ISIS.

"It will also determine an approach to enhancing the lethality of the joint force against high-end competitors and the effectiveness of our military against a broad spectrum of potential threats," Mattis said.