Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks Statement on the Release of the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform Interim Report

OSD PA Press Release, 15 August 2023

Attributable to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks:

The Department of Defense must meet the urgency of today’s threats and tomorrow’s challenges with innovation in all portfolios — including how we build and execute our budget. This is critical not only to maintain the trust of the American taxpayer, but also to ensure that DoD can rapidly transition, integrate, and deliver cutting-edge capabilities to the warfighter at speed and scale. 

It’s no secret that DoD’s resource allocation process was born in the industrial age, and the Department has undertaken significant reforms to improve it. The recommendations made in the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) Reform’s Interim Report released today will further these efforts. I am directing the Department to adopt all actions that can be implemented now, as recommended by the Commission and within its purview. We look forward to working with Congress on all other proposed recommendations included in this interim report. 

The PPBE Reform Commission’s work is immensely important to assisting Congress and DoD in the nation’s efforts to stay ahead of the pacing challenge, ensuring our agility in fielding combat credible forces at speed and scale. I stand ready to provide continued DoD cooperation with the Commission and to receive its final report in March 2024.