The Defense Department had to adjust its portfolio of space, ISR and ground and tactical air capabilities to trim nearly $22 billion from its proposed fiscal 2017 budget, DoD Comptroller Mike McCord told Defense News in an interview published Monday.
“It’s kind of looking at the margin of where we think we have a little too much or that we really think progress could be made,” he said to the publication’s editor Vago Muradian.
DoD is seeking a $582.7 billion budget to fund military operations over the next fiscal year.
McCord noted that his office turns to acquisition programs in order to address short-term funding requirements of the department rather than reducing the compensation rate for military personnel.
He added that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter wants the department to think long term across the air, sea, land, space and cyber domains.
Carter is “challenging the military to be, as we know that they are, versatile and agile across every imaginable dimension,” McCord told Defense News.
