End the Defense Budget Gag Order

Conn Carroll / May 06, 2009

Last month the Washington Post reported that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates required senior defense officials throughout the department to sign non-disclosure on defense budget deliberations.

Today Congressman Randy Forbes (VA-04) along with other House Armed Services Subcommittee Ranking Members sent a letter to Secretary Gates calling this policy a “gag order” that prevents transparency in the defense budget process. From the letter:

I understand that you recently asked senior officials in the Department to sign a Non-disclosure Agreements as it relates to the President’s FY20 Budget proposal. While I fully understand that some of these discussion must be kept confidential, I am concerned that 1) this agreement is not strictly limited to predecisional discussions, and 2) that Congress may be excluded from oversight and engagement due to the restrictions put in place by this agreement. (more…)