The United States is at risk of losing its capacity to build cutting-edge weaponry unless the Defense Department moves to manage the defense sector in an era of budget cuts, a think tank with close ties to the Pentagon warned Wednesday/…/
“The United States has not pursued an overall strategy for preserving its domestic defense infrastructure since this industry emerged in the 1950s as a permanent sector of the U.S. economy,” the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) wrote in a report released Wednesday.
“In light of the fiscal austerity likely to constrain U.S. spending on national security in the years immediately ahead and the growing complexities and dangers in the nation’s security environment, a long-term strategy seems imperative if the vital sectors of the defense industry are to be preserved.”
That’s because the “simple truth is that for-profit U.S. defense companies are not at all likely to preserve the capabilities the military services will need in areas where they have no defense business,” the nonpartisan think tank wrote in its report. “If the vital sectors of the defense industrial base are to be maintained, the U.S. government will need to develop and implement a strategy of some sort.”