General Support (Updated)

Ashton Carter, nominee for the top Pentagon weapons buyer post, yesterday endorsed the now two-and-a-half year old Pentagon experiment with capability portfolio management.

"In general, I support the Capability Portfolio Management Initiative which . . . is intended to provide an enterprise-level, horizontal (cross-component) view of the Department to better balance and harmonize joint warfighter capability needs with capability development efforts," he wrote in prepared answers to advance questions from senators. "If confirmed, I will review the CPM construct to ensure it enables better-integrated and balanced advice across the full spectrum of capability needs to DOD senior leadership."

Outgoing acquisition czar John Young had some reservations about CPM, as Inside the Pentagon noted last summer.

In another prepared answer, Carter wrote it "may be appropriate" that he (or whoever ultimately gets the job) becomes a full member of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, where the core membership currently is pretty much a services-only affair.

UPDATE (March 30, 12pm): The excerpts from the question-and-answer portion of his confirmation hearing are available here.