Zakheim: Budget supports transformation. (Washington Pulse).

The $400 billion defense budget that the president proposed for 2004 "closes and prevents gaps between resources and requirements," particularly in the area of transformational concepts, said Dov Zakheim, undersecretary of defense and comptroller, in a recent speech to defense executives. Changes in strategy, weapons systems and overall management of the department altered priorities at the Pentagon, he added.

Approximately $20 billion is earmarked for transformational acquisition programs, he said.

Zakheim said that the rise of new technologies is replacing the need for full replacement of old systems. For example, fielding unmanned vehicles mean that "we don't necessarily need one-for-one replacement of systems, such as tactical aircraft." In the past, the acquisition of aircraft simply followed the pattern of previous aircraft, he explained. "Now, we can think about a mix of manned and unmanned vehicles that we couldn't have imagined 10 years ago," he said.

Zakheim also plans an overhaul of business transformation concepts at the Department. "I want to pursue a two-year budget cycle, which would mean an off-year that we could use to focus on other things," such as acquisition and performance budgeting. "It's amazing: when you measure something, it seems to improve," he said.

In the past "cash management has alluded the Defense Department, because it is only allowed to move $2 billion in a given year," Zakheim said.