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Pentagon Faces Possibility Of Hundreds Of Billions In Spending Cuts Over 10 Years
Next year’s military cuts are more substantial, if lawmakers look at a different number: $553 billion, the amount Mr. Obama requested from Congress for the Pentagon in the budget for the 2012 fiscal year. Congress has not passed that budget, and at least one Congressional committee has already reduced the White House request.
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Debt Deal Has Little Effect on Pentagon—for Now
The deal to avert a US debt default should have little effect on the Pentagon's huge budget in the short term, but leaves the door open to sharp cuts that could force a strategy overhaul, experts say/…/ But experts say fresh deficit reduction efforts carried out under the new legislation could impose even more drastic cuts on the Pentagon, forcing the Defense Department to make some tough choices.
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Defense Boosters Playing Defense On Debt Deal
Todd Harrison, a budget expert at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, delved into the details Aug. 1 as the two chambers began considering the late-weekend deal. If the cap on security spending in fiscal 2012 proposed by the bill before Congress were applied proportionately, the Pentagon could face a $37 billion cut relative to the president’s $553 billion baseline request, Harrison says. That would bring the new allocation to $516 billion — or $14 billion less than the level provided by the House in its defense spending bill for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
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China’s Military Flexes Its Muscle
As the Pentagon plans for U.S. forces to exit Iraq and Afghanistan, it is keeping one eye trained on the rising threat in the East. For two decades China has been adding large numbers of warships, submarines, fighter jets and — more significantly — developing offensive missiles capable of knocking out U.S. stealth aircraft and the biggest U.S. naval ships including aircraft carriers/…/China says it is simply developing defensive weapons and protecting its interests. But military analysts say the United States appears to be taking a different view, citing the Pentagon's development of a new class of bombers that can fly for long periods outside of the reach of radar.
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Army Spent Over $32 Billion On Canceled Programs Since 1995
The U.S. Army since 1995 has spent at least $32 billion on development, testing and evaluation of 22 weapons programs that were later canceled -- almost a third of its budget for creating new weapons, according to an internal evaluation released today.Todd Harrison, defense budget analyst for the Center for Strategic and Budget Assessments, a private Washington study group, this week likened the situation to “Hollow Growth” where “acquisition costs increased while the inventory of equipment grew smaller and older.”Harrison calculated that since 2001 the Pentagon and military services canceled 12 programs on which $46 billion was spent. His list included seven of the biggest Army terminations.
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No Longer ‘Wine And Roses’ For Defense Spending
One of the big-ticket items in any budget deal will have to be the defense budget/…/ Having less money means deciding what is and isn't going to be done, determining the real dangers that the country is going to face in the next decade and the likelihood of those dangers occurring.