News
In the News

Pentagon’s Finances Imperilled By Pensions

Of all the politically difficult budget issues that Mr. Hagel will face, few are more charged than the question of military entitlements which have risen sharply over the past decade.

A report last year by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments concluded that at current rates, “military personnel costs will consume the entire defense budget by 2039”. Robert Gates, Mr. Obama’s first defense secretary, once warned that these expenses were “eating us alive”.