Sen. John McCain aired his grievances to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about the Air Force's lofty budget request.
McCain specifically wanted to know what is in the Air Force's $80 billion budget for the service's new stealth bomber, the B-21. The Air Force has been secretive about how the money will be used.
"It's difficult to understand why you should keep other aspects of the program under the veil of secrecy," McCain told Wilson Tuesday, according to the Washington Examiner.
"Don't the American people deserve to understand more about what their dollars are being spent [on], such as $2 billion of R&D money requested in this year's budget?"
Wilson responded by saying the Air Force has been "very open" regarding the sharing of spending information with lawmakers.
"That is not true, Madame Secretary, that is simply not true," McCain said.
The Air Force's top general, meanwhile, told Bloomberg his service wants to avoid the secrecy that shrouded the development of and spending on the B-2 bomber.
"As the program matures, I've told the team that we're going to continue to move the ball toward more transparency, but we are going to have to work with the committees on what that looks like," Gen. David Goldfein said.
"If we try to stay where we are right now the entire length of the program, then we're following the path of the B-2, and we're not going to follow that path."
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