cult issues as curbing federal spending and raising taxes, much less
push that agreement through both
chambers of Congress.
Panetta, a former White House
budget chief and chairman of the
House Budget Committee, called
the threat of a $500 billion across-
the-board defense cut — technical-
ly called “sequestration” — a
“doomsday mechanism.”
“But if it happened — and God
willing, that would not be the case
— it would result in a further round
of very dangerous cuts across the
board,” Panetta said. Those cuts, he
added, “would do real damage to
our security, our troops and their
families, and our military’s ability to
protect the nation.”
The defense industry is likewise
worried about any cuts to defense
that go deeper than what is already
on the table. Marion Blakey, presi-
dent of the Aerospace Industries
Association, charged that the debt-
ceiling deal dangles a “sword of
Damocles over our national securi-
ty later this year when further cuts
would be triggered unless another
compromise is reached.”
Despite assertions about the dis-
astrous effect such a cut would
have on the department, Panetta
and other senior defense officials
said they are not doing any contin-
gency planning in the event the
committee fails to find the requi-
site $1.5 trillion in savings.
“I’m not even beginning to con-
sider what would happen with
regard to sequestration,” Panetta
said. “All I know is that from the
review we’ve been doing for what we
have to deal with in these numbers,
anything that doubles that would be
disastrous to the defense budget.”
The Pentagon is likewise not
coming up with any sort of Plan B
should the deficit-reduction com-
mittee decide to target defense for
cuts in addition to the $350 billion
the White House already is plan-
ning to trim.
INTERCEPTS
“The way government and industrial leaders think must
change.” This generation “has grown accustomed over the
post-9/11 decade to circumstances in which we could always
reach for more money when we encountered managerial or
technical problems or a difficult choice. Those days are gone.”
Ashton B. Carter
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics
On what the future holds for the defense industry and the Defense Department
as budget cuts loom and program costs come under even greater scrutiny.
Government Executive, July 19
“In the future, you can’t keep saying we’re not transparent.
Next time I go to the U.S., I want this kind of transparency. I
want to be able to get into a plane’s cockpit, instead of just
looking at the plane surrounded by red ropes 60 feet away.”
Gen. Ma Xiaotian
China’s deputy chief of general staff
After Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was allowed to
climb into the cockpit of an SU- 27 during a photo opportunity while visiting a
Chinese air base in the eastern province of Shandong.
The Wall Street Journal, July 14
With the Pentagon’s accounts
making up more than half of all
federal discretionary spending, it’s
difficult to imagine the bipartisan
committee completely bypassing
the defense budget in its quest to
cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion. But
a senior Defense Department official told reporters Aug. 3 that the
Pentagon hopes the committee will
not eye the military for more cuts.
The official said he expects the
committee to focus on taxes and
entitlements, although he
acknowledged committee members can look anywhere they please
for cuts.
“I would hope [the committee]
would not make further cuts in
defense,” the official said. “It
remains a very dangerous world
and we feel we need a strong mili-
tary to meet our national security
requirements.”
But even in a worst-case scenario,
the Pentagon would face $850 bil-
lion in cuts over the next decade —
a sizeable amount, to be sure, but
still less than or equal to some of the
other proposals on the table.
Senate Confirms
Greenert as CNO
Just before leaving town Aug. 2 for a
month-long recess, the Senate confirmed Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert
as the next chief of naval operations.
Greenert, who currently serves
as the Navy’s vice chief, will take
over at the helm of the service this
fall after Adm. Gary Roughead
retires on Sept. 29.
During his July 27 confirmation
hearing, Greenert fielded questions
