Global News

At an Oct. 23 Brookings Institution event, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said the Office of Naval Research could see increased budget scrutiny in “constrained” resource environments.

“The [Office of Naval Research] in general all of research in the Navy has been a tremendous asset. As we get to these constrained resource environments we’re going to have to have everyone singing for their dinner [or program] to make sure that the dollars we’re putting out there are correct,” Spencer said.

The comments mirror Spencer’s remarks to the Senate Armed Services Committee in April, when he told lawmakers that the Navy was adopting a budget discipline similar to the Army’s “night court.”

“Navy goes through a similar process every single budget cycle, although this next cycle that we’re doing, we’re actually calling it zero-based budgeting, where we are zeroing everybody out, and everyone has to come in and sing for their dinner, as to their requirements,” Spencer said at that April 9 committee hearing.