US DoD freezes conferences, associated travel

The Pentagon has ordered a freeze on all new large-scale conferences and conference-related travel pending a sweeping review that aims to cut travel costs across the Defense Department.

The order signed June 3 by Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter orders the service chiefs to review all upcoming conferences costing more than $100,000 to ensure that they “significantly further the Department’s mission.”

“Each component or service shall suspend incurring any new obligations for conferences to which it is not yet committed until it has completed its review,” Carter wrote.

All conferences could be affected. Conferences currently scheduled for the next several months will be reviewed, and military officials cannot authorize any new conference plans or financial commitments until after the review is completed later this year, a Pentagon official said.

For now, conferences expected to cost more than $100,000 will require approval from top Pentagon officials, according to the memo.

Many of the largest military conferences are sponsored by groups independent of the Defense Department, such as the Association of the U.S. Army or the Navy League’s annual Sea Air Space conference. Nevertheless, attendance at those conferences could be affected because service members typically travel on military expense accounts.

The Pentagon memo follows a directive from President Obama in May calling for all federal agencies to reduce travel costs by 30 percent for fiscal year 2013. That order came shortly after reports in April that the General Services Administration spent more than $800,000 on a 2010 conference in Las Vegas.