Military IT faces cuts again

The Defense Department must fight an uphill battle again this year to preserve information technology projects budgeted for next year.

House and Senate committees earlier this month cut the military's $27.4 billion funding request for fiscal 2005 by $389 million and $200 million respectively in their markups of the 2005 Defense Authorization Act.

Congress again scolded the department about its management of business IT systems and policy. "While the committee supports network-centric operations and warfare initiatives that support military missions, as well as operational and organizational changes that have the net effect of supporting our warfighters, the committee remains concerned about the department's lack of control and management oversight of the development and investments in business IT systems," the House of Representatives' bill said.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense's delay in developing a financial systems architecture and inadequate justification for new business systems investments caused the Senate to decrease IT spending in its bill version. "The reduction