Trump "interferes" with appropriations for F-35
Please note that this is a Bloomberg article, so it is slanted somewhat left. A couple of things I noted:
1) Trump was being accused of creating "chaos in the system" and interfering with the appropriations process. What that really means is that the people in question don't like having their contracts scrutinized by other people. But to complain when it is the Commander-in-Chief asking questions about a program that has cost $379 billion?
2) Even though a rival manufacturer was in the room when the call was made, he was surprised as well. This wasn't ganging up on anyone - it was fact gathering. But Trump showed a great deal of business acumen (imo) by having the conversation with both competitors right there.
Of course one of the real problems with the entire military procurement system is their insistent on joint projects. "Pentagon Wars" is touted as a comedy/spoof, but it actually addresses several of the real problems: the primary one being trying to make "Swiss army knives" out of every piece of military equipment. This leads to tremendous re-engineering costs and equipment that is "jack of all trades and master of none".
Personally, I WANT Trump to get involved in military procurement. I don't trust the man from a principle standpoint, but business-wise I think he could really clean up waste in military spending.
1) Trump was being accused of creating "chaos in the system" and interfering with the appropriations process. What that really means is that the people in question don't like having their contracts scrutinized by other people. But to complain when it is the Commander-in-Chief asking questions about a program that has cost $379 billion?
2) Even though a rival manufacturer was in the room when the call was made, he was surprised as well. This wasn't ganging up on anyone - it was fact gathering. But Trump showed a great deal of business acumen (imo) by having the conversation with both competitors right there.
Of course one of the real problems with the entire military procurement system is their insistent on joint projects. "Pentagon Wars" is touted as a comedy/spoof, but it actually addresses several of the real problems: the primary one being trying to make "Swiss army knives" out of every piece of military equipment. This leads to tremendous re-engineering costs and equipment that is "jack of all trades and master of none".
Personally, I WANT Trump to get involved in military procurement. I don't trust the man from a principle standpoint, but business-wise I think he could really clean up waste in military spending.
