The White House has threatened to veto a Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2017 over provisions that would impose organizational changes at the Pentagon and block planned closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, The Hill newspaper reported Tuesday.Rebecca Kheel writes the Senate’s defense policy bill includes a proposal to split up the responsibilities of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics between two other offices.
“Reorganizing DOD without careful study and consideration would undermine the department’s ability to continue to carry out its national security functions,” the White House said in a statement of administration policy.
Kheel reports the Obama administration also opposes NDAA provisions that would extend a ban on the transfer of detainees from a U.S. detention facility in Cuba to other countries that are included in State Department-issued travel alerts and would limit the number of National Security Council staffers to 150.
The House of Representatives passed its fiscal 2017 defense policy bill last month, but the legislation faces a veto threat from the White House because it uses war funds to increase the defense base budget, Patricia Zengerle of Reuters reported Tuesday.
According to Zengerle’s story, the Senate’s NDAA did not adopt the House’s strategy to shift funds from the Pentagon’s overseas contingency operations account.
