Congressional oversight of the fiscal year 1995 environmental security budget and its implications for the DoD acquisition process

Abstract

This thesis examines congressional oversight of the environmental security budget of the U.S. Department of Defense. Congressional oversight profiles the formal finding categories employed by Congress, including Operations and Maintenance, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, and Military Construction, as well as the pillar approach adopted by the Department of Defense, which uses the concepts of cleanup, compliance, conservation, and pollution prevention. Budget requests from fiscal years 1984 through 1994 are reviewed and analyzed to identify budgeting and oversight patterns. The fiscal year 1995 request for $5.7 billion is tracked through the congressional budget process. Special attention is given to the Environmental Consequences Analysis of Major Defense Acquisition Programs Act. The study finds that environmental finding increased moderately in the 1980s, then rose significantly in the early 1990s. By fiscal year 1994, the cumulative decline in total defense spending and congressional dissatisfaction with DoD environmental restoration policy ended the growth in environmental security budgets. Congress encouraged DoD to reduce environmental costs by improving, or "greening" the acquisition process. Defense environmental programs are vulnerable to reduction because they are seen as marginal to security during a period of budget austerity.