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USA Defense Spending cut by US$ 400 Billion by 2023
US Defense Department will lead a "fundamental review" of U.S. military missions and capabilities in a bid to cut $400 billion over 10 years, President Obama said April 13.
"We need to not only eliminate waste and improve efficiency and effectiveness, but conduct a fundamental review of America's missions, capabilities and our role in a changing world," Obama said during a speech on his debt and deficit reduction plan at George Washington University.
The goal will be to hold growth in the defense base budget below inflation, which would save $400 billion by 2023, according to the White House. This deficit reduction effort is in addition to the savings generated from ramping-down overseas contingency operations, the White House said.
While Obama said he would work with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs on the review, it will most likely fall to Gates' successor to oversee. Gates is expected to step down later this year.
"They're going to have to plan a build down," said Gordon Adams, who oversaw defense budgeting for the Clinton administration. The effectiveness of the review depends very much on how it's done and who is leading it, he said, adding the only way to do a serious roles and missions review is from the top-down, not the bottom-up.
Obama said he would make specific decisions about spending after the review is complete, a date that is still unknown.
"We just got this direction yesterday, so we don't yet have a timetable," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters after the president's speech.
Obama praised Gates' efforts to find savings in the defense budget over the last two years, but said that more savings could be found.
"Secretary Gates has courageously taken on wasteful spending, saving $400 billion in current and future spending," Obama said. "I believe we can do that again."
Of the $400 billion already saved, $330 billion is supposed to come from Gates' cuts to weapons programs - for example the cancelation of the Army's Future Combat Systems program and the Air Force's Next-Generation Bomber, both of which Gates terminated in the 2010 budget. However, those two programs have been replaced: The Army is developing the Ground Combat Vehicle, and the Air Force has launched a scaled-back bomber program.
The remainder comes from Gates' effort to find efficiencies within the Pentagon.
Now, the Pentagon is being directed to find an additional $400 billion without compromising national security.
"As commander in chief, I have no greater responsibility than protecting our national security, and I will never accept cuts that compromise our ability to defend our homeland or America's interests around the world," he said.
Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is worried about what these cuts may mean for national security.
"I have grave concerns about the White House announcing a $400 billion cut to national security spending while our troops are fighting in three different theaters," McKeon said. "Additionally, assigning a specific number to national security cuts prior to the completion of a comprehensive review of our military's roles and missions seems to be putting the cart before the horse."
According to Morrell, Gates thinks this is the right sequence of events, by "conducting a comprehensive review first and only then making decisions on specific funding options."
Meanwhile, many Republicans have said that defense spending should be on the table in any deficit reduction plan, and the House Republicans' budget resolution for 2012 says exactly that.
Two bipartisan debt panels go even further than Obama in their proposals to tackle the national debt.
One effort, led by former Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and former Clinton White House budget director Alice Rivlin, proposes freezing defense spending at fiscal 2011 levels, saving $1.1 trillion through 2020.
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairs of the bipartisan National Fiscal Commission, have called for similar levels in defense spending reductions, proposing a $100 billion cut from the defense budget top line in 2015 alone.
Whether it is $400 billion or more, the Pentagon will have to do more than look for efficiencies to reach these levels of savings, analysts agree.
"If you really want to get to significant budget savings, you have to start addressing some of those strategic questions about what you want DoD to be able to do in the future," Todd Harrison, a senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said in an interview last week.
Mission sets cannot continue to grow while budgets precipitously decline without a serious discussion about American foreign policy, said Mackenzie Eaglen, a defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation.
Gates has also said the Pentagon will need to consider force structure and military capability in certain areas to achieve significant savings.
"The secretary believes that this process must be about managing risk associated with future threats and national security challenges, and identifying missions that the country is willing to have the military forgo," Morrell said.
Obama's Plan: Cut Defense Spending by $400B by 2023 - Defense News
US Defense Department will lead a "fundamental review" of U.S. military missions and capabilities in a bid to cut $400 billion over 10 years, President Obama said April 13.
"We need to not only eliminate waste and improve efficiency and effectiveness, but conduct a fundamental review of America's missions, capabilities and our role in a changing world," Obama said during a speech on his debt and deficit reduction plan at George Washington University.
The goal will be to hold growth in the defense base budget below inflation, which would save $400 billion by 2023, according to the White House. This deficit reduction effort is in addition to the savings generated from ramping-down overseas contingency operations, the White House said.
While Obama said he would work with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs on the review, it will most likely fall to Gates' successor to oversee. Gates is expected to step down later this year.
"They're going to have to plan a build down," said Gordon Adams, who oversaw defense budgeting for the Clinton administration. The effectiveness of the review depends very much on how it's done and who is leading it, he said, adding the only way to do a serious roles and missions review is from the top-down, not the bottom-up.
Obama said he would make specific decisions about spending after the review is complete, a date that is still unknown.
"We just got this direction yesterday, so we don't yet have a timetable," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters after the president's speech.
Obama praised Gates' efforts to find savings in the defense budget over the last two years, but said that more savings could be found.
"Secretary Gates has courageously taken on wasteful spending, saving $400 billion in current and future spending," Obama said. "I believe we can do that again."
Of the $400 billion already saved, $330 billion is supposed to come from Gates' cuts to weapons programs - for example the cancelation of the Army's Future Combat Systems program and the Air Force's Next-Generation Bomber, both of which Gates terminated in the 2010 budget. However, those two programs have been replaced: The Army is developing the Ground Combat Vehicle, and the Air Force has launched a scaled-back bomber program.
The remainder comes from Gates' effort to find efficiencies within the Pentagon.
Now, the Pentagon is being directed to find an additional $400 billion without compromising national security.
"As commander in chief, I have no greater responsibility than protecting our national security, and I will never accept cuts that compromise our ability to defend our homeland or America's interests around the world," he said.
Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is worried about what these cuts may mean for national security.
"I have grave concerns about the White House announcing a $400 billion cut to national security spending while our troops are fighting in three different theaters," McKeon said. "Additionally, assigning a specific number to national security cuts prior to the completion of a comprehensive review of our military's roles and missions seems to be putting the cart before the horse."
According to Morrell, Gates thinks this is the right sequence of events, by "conducting a comprehensive review first and only then making decisions on specific funding options."
Meanwhile, many Republicans have said that defense spending should be on the table in any deficit reduction plan, and the House Republicans' budget resolution for 2012 says exactly that.
Two bipartisan debt panels go even further than Obama in their proposals to tackle the national debt.
One effort, led by former Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and former Clinton White House budget director Alice Rivlin, proposes freezing defense spending at fiscal 2011 levels, saving $1.1 trillion through 2020.
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairs of the bipartisan National Fiscal Commission, have called for similar levels in defense spending reductions, proposing a $100 billion cut from the defense budget top line in 2015 alone.
Whether it is $400 billion or more, the Pentagon will have to do more than look for efficiencies to reach these levels of savings, analysts agree.
"If you really want to get to significant budget savings, you have to start addressing some of those strategic questions about what you want DoD to be able to do in the future," Todd Harrison, a senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said in an interview last week.
Mission sets cannot continue to grow while budgets precipitously decline without a serious discussion about American foreign policy, said Mackenzie Eaglen, a defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation.
Gates has also said the Pentagon will need to consider force structure and military capability in certain areas to achieve significant savings.
"The secretary believes that this process must be about managing risk associated with future threats and national security challenges, and identifying missions that the country is willing to have the military forgo," Morrell said.
Obama's Plan: Cut Defense Spending by $400B by 2023 - Defense News
I think that China can disarmament 400,000. But can not cut military spending.
