Deputy assistant secretary - Budget

The new fiscal year is off to a running start. This year, Congress pushed hard and passed all the Department of Defense (DoD) authorization and appropriation bills as well as Supplemental to cover the cost of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) before adjourning for the holiday. This puts the air Force in an excellent position to support the warfighter without having to heavily cashflow from our peacetime programs. Although FY04 is off to a good start, there are challenges ahead. When the dust settled after the budget battle on Capitol Hill, Air Force O&M was $2.0B less than the President's budget request. Some of these reductions will hurt less than the other cuts because they targeted operations that have been either eliminated and/or will be paid for with Supplemental funding, e.g., funding for Operations Northern Watch and Southern Watch. However, there is no question that there is a degree of risk as we work our way through the fiscal year--and it is clear we must plan on receiving no additional supplemental funding this year, either peacetime or GWOT. As you ably handled the rigors of stretching our limited dollars while we awaited the Supplemental in FY03, we are confident you will once again guide your organizations to a successful landing in FY04.

We sent out O&M peacetime initial distribution to the MAJCOMs on 25 November 2003. With that hurdle behind us, we are now focused on distributing O&M GWOT funds to the field. We started the flow of cash to the commands at the end of December for burn rate costs. Funding to cover your one-time expenses will be sent out throughout the year for those items approved by the Air Force Corporate Structure (ARCS).

The process for allocating our limited GWOT funds has been more difficult as we did not have a financial plan upon which to base your distribution. In order to put resources where needed the most, we sent out a data call that you returned to us on 17 November 2003. Using your input, the Arcs then determined the highest priorities. Our first priority is to distribute O&M GWOT burn rate funding to the field so you do not have to once again cashflow from your peacetime programs. We plan to distribute 75% of the validated O&M GWOT burn rate requirements. You should have received these funds by the end of December. We will then use your GWOT updates on the 15th of January, April, and July to monitor execution and make adjustments as we progress through the fiscal year.

Because of a $400M Congressional GWOT reduction, the large amount of funding needed to cover burn rate and other must pay GWOT bills, there are limited resources remaining to address your one-time GWOT needs. The Arcs has prioritized your submissions. Once the senior leadership approves the proposed priority list, we will distribute funding for the approved onetime requirements at the beginning of each quarter using the need dates you provided.

The hard work each and every one of you is doing is critical to the ultimate victory we will have in the Global War on Terrorism. Your dedication and commitment is second to none and we are proud to serve with you as we finance the fight.

COPYRIGHT 2004 U.S. Air Force, Financial Management and Comptroller
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group