Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. letter to William Crouch, June 17, 1998

с June 17, 1998 Hl с - 'T. Г- General William Crouch Army Vice Chief of Staff Department of the Army Army Pentagon Washington, D.C. 20310-0200 Dear General Crouch: I am writing to register my strong opposition to the proposed change of command structure for the Army’s Test and Evaluation Command (ТЕСОМ) located at the Aberdeen Test Center (АТС) in Aberdeen, Maryland. As you know, АТС is the premier Army test facility which conducts extensive test and evaluation on the majority of the equipment used by die Army as well as other branches of the armed forces. Its natural environment duplicates approximately eighty percent of future batde scenarios envisioned by Army planners. Under the present ТЕСОМ command structure, АТС and the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) Garrison have a strong working relationship. As the АТС “landlord”, the Garrison provides essential support services which are an integral part of the T&E process. Should the command structure be altered, I believe this process will suffer despite the efforts of the professional and capable personnel at APG. Removing developmental testing from the acquisition process will undoubtedly result in a less efficient process. I see no problem which needs to be resolved by this undertaking. Quite frankly, I believe this command restructuring will result in additional and unnecessary expenditures to create a new major command and its supporting bureaucracy with no benefit to the Army. I am also concerned this reorganization may violate DOD Directive 5000.1 which requires each service establish a separate and independent operational test and evaluation activity. Additionally, I believe the downgrading of command will place the organization at a disadvantage in competition for resources. Insufficient staffing will result in extreme difficulty in the new command properly carrying out its assigned mission as well as focusing specifically on operational testing. I would appreciate your keeping me closely informed as the decision making process continues and considering my ardent opposition to the aforementioned change in command structure. Very truly yours, Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Member of Congress l/l *d 6181 ON Wd88:9 8661 Ч\'Щ