{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norcross.house.gov/press-releases?ID=E4B6DD53-7B47-4924-956C-ED9BF0BFB0BA", "Norcross, Sen. Warren press Secretary Hegseth on cuts to Pentagon weapons safety office", "2026-08-13", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "NJ", "Donald Norcross", "N000188", "norcross.house.gov", "norcross", "https://norcross.house.gov/press-releases", "page_html", "WASHINGTON \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, and Representative Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee\u2019s Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, pressed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on his decision to cut the Pentagon\u2019s independent weapons testing office budget by nearly 80% and staff by 74%, and urged him to reverse the cuts to ensure the military\u2019s weapons systems are effective for combat use and safe for troops. The new letter follows a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finding that Secretary Hegseth\u2019s cuts to DOT&E have increased the risk of weapons being delivered to troops with \u201cundocumented shortfalls related to effectiveness, suitability, survivability, or lethality.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe decision to purge the office of DOT&E has created significant and unnecessary risk that jeopardizes readiness, service member safety, acquisition reform, and taxpayer dollars,\u201d wrote the lawmakers. \u201cWe urge you to reverse the cuts made to this office to restore trust that DoD weapon systems are effective for combat use and safe for our warfighters at a justifiable cost to the American taxpayer.\u201d\n\nThe Department of Defense\u2019s (DOD) Office of Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) was created in response to concerns that the military services were failing to adequately test weapons, and that Congress was not receiving the information necessary to conduct oversight over weapons programs. In May 2025, Secretary Hegseth eliminated any \u201cnon-statutory\u201d functions of the office, reducing the office\u2019s staff by 74 percent and slashing its budget by almost 80 percent. Hegseth also restricted DOT&E staff\u2019s access to classified areas and reduced the amount of programs the office was able to conduct oversight on.\n\nThe GAO\u2019s investigation found that these staffing changes \u201creduced DOT&E\u2019s ability to oversee operational and live fire testing and evaluation\u201d and that DoD\u2019s remaining test and evaluation processes do not \u201creflect leading practices.\u201d\n\n\u201cDoD must ensure that weapon systems are safe and are effective for the battlefield. We have serious concerns that as of May 2026, DoD has not provided any justification to support the DOT&E reorganization effort or provided the congressionally mandated analysis on the impacts of these cuts,\u201d wrote the lawmakers.\n\nThe members also raised concerns about the recent removal of all of DOT&E\u2019s annual reports from the office\u2019s official website. The removed reports, which were all unclassified, provide transparency about the effectiveness of major weapon systems and help identify malfunctions to ensure those weapons do not kill or harm troops. During her confirmation hearing, Dr. Amy Henninger, head of DOT&E, promised Senator Warren \u201cmaximum\u201d transparency from her office.\n\n\u201cRemoving these reports appears to be an attempt to avoid disclosure of information the public needs to evaluate if major, high-dollar weapon systems are effective and safe,\u201d said the lawmakers.\n\nThe members urged Secretary Hegseth to reverse the cuts he made to funding and staffing levels for DOT&E and explain his plan to reduce the risk of faulty or dangerous weapons being delivered to troops in the meantime. They also pushed him to ensure the annual weapons testing reports are restored to the DOT&E website and provide an explanation for their initial removal by August 26, 2026.", 1, "2026-09-18T09:27:43Z", "2026-09-18T09:29:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://norcross.house.gov/press-releases?ID=E4B6DD53-7B47-4924-956C-ED9BF0BFB0BA"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6529420390725136, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}