- DOW stood up a new cost-efficiency team within its comptroller office
- FAST is to recommend eliminations, consolidations and realignments
- DOW Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg set the effort in motion
The Department of War has formed a team tasked with rooting out waste and redundant bureaucracy across the department and directing resources toward its most pressing warfighting needs.
DOW said Friday the Force Agility and Streamlining Team, or FAST, operates within the Office of the Under Secretary of War (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer. It reports to Jules Hurst III, who was confirmed to the position in August following his nomination in May.
DOW Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg directed the creation of the team through a memo published in August.
What Are the Responsibilities of FAST?
FAST will examine the department’s operations to identify areas where resources are not supporting the mission. The team’s review will center on the following:
- Duplicative programs that overlap with other efforts across the department
- Administrative processes the department considers unnecessary
- Spending that DOW views as inefficient
- Organizational structures that no longer serve the department’s mission
To carry out its work, FAST will coordinate with the military departments, the Joint Staff, defense agencies and field activities, as well as other senior DOW leaders. Drawing on those reviews, the team will advise department leadership on whether specific programs and processes should be eliminated, realigned, consolidated or modified.
FAST will also encourage cost awareness throughout the defense enterprise and help establish a more agile and accountable model for managing taxpayer funds. Its recommendations will support broader DOW initiatives to modernize business practices and strengthen fiscal accountability.
What Did DOW Under Secretary Jules Hurst Say?
Hurst said FAST will give the department a structured way to review its operations and act where spending does not deliver sufficient value.
“Every dollar we spend should make our military stronger, more ready and more lethal, which is why good stewardship is not separate from warfighting,” he said.
He added that the team will be judged on outcomes rather than on added procedures.
“Success will be measured by results, not by another layer of process,” Hurst said. “If a program is duplicative, we should eliminate it. If a process can be streamlined, we should streamline it.”
How Does FAST Build on Other DOW Efficiency & Accountability Efforts?
The establishment of FAST follows several DOW moves to strengthen financial accountability and streamline operations. In March, the comptroller’s office and the Office of Inspector General outlined changes to the department’s financial reporting structure and audit approach as part of a strategy to secure a clean audit opinion by fiscal year 2028.
In August, Feinberg directed the department to pursue access to contractors’ financial systems to obtain cost information, stating that the additional data would support contract negotiations and help DOW assess whether programs deliver value.
Feinberg followed with a September memo directing DOW to eliminate audit, accounting and compliance requirements that have separated defense contractors from the broader U.S. economy. The memo tasks the comptroller’s office with advancing reforms to shift contractors from Cost Accounting Standards to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
