CSBA in the News

As Republicans and Democrats drew the battle lines last week for a yearlong, two-front war over the 2013 Defense budget, their attack plans looked familiar.

The U.S. Defense Department carefully selected the programs it wants to cancel in fiscal 2013 to avoid termination fee negotiations that have plagued the Pentagon in prior years.

Pentagon’s budget, as advertised, touts a new strategic vision — and a major reorientation of U.S. military forces. It anticipates a reduction in ground forces, a withdrawal of heavy Army units from Europe, and a shift in the military’s focus toward Asia. Above all, it favors agile (and, therefore, more easily deployable) special operations forces and the advanced air-and-space power that makes them so lethal/…/

The Obama Administration wants U.S. military focus to turn to the Pacific Ocean, but the Pentagon’s budget for fiscal year 2013 continues to support the status quo, according to analysts..

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told lawmakers on Thursday the Pentagon – a department that prides itself on being ready for everything from war to natural disaster – had no plan at all for dealing with the real threat of another $50 billion in budget cuts next year/…/

The Pentagon is making no plans to prepare for half-a-trillion dollars in mandatory budget cuts scheduled to take effect in less than a year, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in testimony Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.