The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a stark warning to the Department of Defense (DoD) by urging it to confront long-standing and unresolved challenges that threaten the U.S. military’s readiness and its strategic edge against global adversaries.
In a June 2 letter addressed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, GAO stated unequivocally that DoD has yet to fully tackle critical issues necessary to “rebuild and preserve force structure and operational effectiveness.”
At the center of GAO’s concern are persistent failures in managing the Pentagon’s most expensive and technically complex weapon acquisition programs, as well as vulnerabilities created by weak cybersecurity practices. Those are issues, GAO said, that left unaddressed could compromise the U.S. military’s agility and superiority.
While the watchdog acknowledged some progress has been made by the Pentagon, it described that progress as “uneven and insufficient.”
According to the Federal watchdog, DoD’s acquisition process remains plagued by policy inconsistencies, inadequate oversight, and slow software development cycles. Although Hegseth has issued several directives to accelerate acquisition pathways, the GAO stressed that more decisive reforms are needed to make the system responsive to evolving battlefield technologies.
GAO is also calling on DoD to establish a comprehensive science and technology management framework that would allow the department to make faster decisions on high-stakes technology programs and ensure a more nimble innovation pipeline.
Additionally, GAO warned that DoD’s vulnerabilities to cyber threats remain deeply concerning. Despite the growing sophistication of global cyber adversaries, the Pentagon has not sufficiently strengthened its cybersecurity workforce nor enforced consistent protective measures across its networks.
“To detect and protect gaps in DoD’s cybersecurity network, we recommended that DoD monitor the extent to which practices are implemented to protect the department’s network from key cyberattack techniques,” the report stated. GAO emphasized the need for targeted improvements in hiring, training, and retaining skilled cyber personnel, as well as rigorous oversight of cybersecurity implementation.
DoD has yet to issue a formal response to the GAO’s recommendations.