Washington D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith today announced that he has appointed former Department of Defense Comptroller Robert Hale to the Commission on the Future of the United States Army.
“Mr. Hale has devoted much of his professional career to defense policy and budget issues,” said Ranking Member Adam Smith. “Many of these issues, including management of wartime budgets and handling the effects of sequestration, led him to work closely with senior Army leaders on issues of great significance to the service. This experience, along with his broad knowledge of national security and resource issues, makes him a perfect fit for the Commission. I am pleased that he accepted my invitation to serve.”
The Commission on the Future of the United States Army was created in the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. The Commission is tasked with a comprehensive study of the structure of the Army. It is expected to report back to Congress by February 1, 2016 with recommendations regarding the structure of the Army necessary to accomplish Army mission requirements at acceptable levels of risk consistent with available resources. There will be eight commissioners, with four appointed by Congress and four appointed by the President.
About Robert F. Hale
The Honorable Robert F. Hale is currently a Fellow at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he represents the firm in public policy discussions and provides internal assistance on projects. From 2009 until 2014 Mr. Hale served as Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Defense. During those years he managed $600 billion budgets in time of war and oversaw efforts by the Department to minimize the problems caused by the 2013 sequestration and government shutdown. He also made significant financial improvements in defense financial management, moving the Department toward its first auditable financial statements and establishing a course-based certification program for defense financial managers. From 1994 to 2001 Mr. Hale served as the head of Air Force financial management, managing that service’s budgets and spearheading efforts to create a test-based certification program. Mr. Hale also spent 12 years as head of the defense group at the Congressional Budget Office, where he frequently testified as an expert witness before Congressional committees. He was the Executive Director of the American Society of Military Comptrollers and held analytic and management positions at LMI government consulting and the Center for Naval Analyses. Early in his career he served as a Navy officer. Mr. Hale is Level 3 certified in Defense Financial Management and is a Certified Defense Financial Manager. He is a fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration and a past member of the Defense Business Board. He has received numerous awards from the Department of Defense and the federal government for distinguished public service including the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award, the Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the GAO/OMB/Treasury award for distinguished lifetime accomplishments in federal financial management.