News
Gordon Adams and Matthew Leatherman further the argument for a leaner defense in the IHT
December 23, 2010
Of all of this year’s seismic shifts in the deficit and debt debate, putting U.S. defense budgets on the table is perhaps the most significant.
President Obama’s deficit commission, reinforced by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Rivlin-Domenici panel, has added military spending to the conversation on spending cuts. And newly-ascendant Republicans have affirmed that fiscal discipline must extend to the defense budget.
The U.S. Department of Defense, however, has not yet acknowledged this shift. On the contrary, Defense Secretary Robert Gates blasted the deficit commission’s report as “math, not strategy.”
However, choosing mission priorities, managing efficiently and budgeting accordingly can contribute roughly $1 trillion to deficit reduction by 2020 while making the Pentagon more fiscally responsible and maintaining — even sharpening — the point of the spear.
Read the full Op-Ed here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/opinion/22iht-edadams22.html?_r=1