By Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ignacio D. Perez DoD News, Defense Media Activity
Though the increased funding in the fiscal year 2019 budget deal is welcome, it will not fully restore the damage to DoD facilities caused by years of sequestration spending cuts, a senior Defense Department official told Congress today.
Lucian Niemeyer, assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment, testified at a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies.
Many DoD facilities have degraded significantly from reduced investments, and the department has a $116 billion backlog in facilities requiring attention, Niemeyer said. “A lot of our facilities are either in fail or poor condition,” he told the House panel. “This will ultimately result in the DoD facing larger bills in the future to go ahead to restore or replace facilities that deteriorate prematurely. The stark reality is that it is too costly to buy ourselves out of this this backlog.”
Strategic Goals
Niemeyer said he and his team set forth strategic goals to confront the challenges posed by years of underfunded facilities and infrastructure accounts:
— Find new innovations and avenues to eliminate waste in DoD installations and infrastructure;
— Continue to ask for adequate funding for installation and…
