CSBA in the News

Under current sequestration law, military pay, personnel and programs, as well as war-related accounts, cannot be cut, and no bases can be closed. But unless Congress acts to give the Pentagon what’s called reprogramming authority, military leaders will not be able to target their trims.

Will American commanders in the future face large missile forces aimed at their ships that can just simply overwhelm their defenses through sheer numbers?

The F-35 is designed to replace a long list of planes, doing jobs from dogfights to attacking ground targets and reconnaissance. It’ll let the U.S. fight diverse conflicts in an unpredictable world, coordinating with allies, said O’Bryan, a former Navy pilot. “The same airplanes we used in (1991’s) Operation Desert Storm, we’re still using today,” he said. “We’ve put some miles on them.”

The sequestration cuts are not focused in specific areas but instead are across the board. According to Todd Harrison, a senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, this will make the sequestration process more difficult.

The Pentagon has moved to take steps ahead of the March 1 deadline, including a hiring freeze and some spending reductions. Among lawmakers, there’s been no talk of having the kinds of rallies that occurred in 2012 to try and win over public support against the cuts.