Stimson Center: DoD Could Trim $1 Trillion Without Eroding Combat Power
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon could save double the
amount of cuts mandated under sequestration and avoid eroding its combat
power, says a report released Monday.
The Washington-based
Stimson Center projects the Defense Department could trim its planned
spending by almost $1 trillion over the next 10 years by making a list
of accounting, personnel and contracting changes.
If an ample
number of such largely administrative changes – often called
“efficiencies” – were enacted, the military could avoid “cutting
essential combat capabilities,” the think tank said.
By contrast,
military brass say they already have canceled a slew of training
activities and intend to put off or cancel planned maintenance on
aircraft, ships and other combat platforms. And DoD civilian contractors
are still waiting to find out if up to 800,000 of their ranks will be
furloughed in coming weeks.
The cumulative effect of just the
first $42 billion part of sequestration’s decade-spanning $500 billion
cut to planned military spending, officials say, is a military that soon
will be less ready to respond to global crises – or even to go to war.
“Before
cuts are made to military readiness, force structure, or needed
weapons, some of the changes like those in this report should be
implemented,” states the Stimson study.
“If the United States is to have the best defense possible, it must
spend its defense dollars in the most effective and efficient ways
possible.”
Barry Blechman, a Stimson co-founder and distinguished
fellow who helped craft the report said “if only 20 percent of the
reductions we’ve listed – amounting to $200 billion over 10 years – are
enacted, it would greatly relieve pressures on needed military
capabilities.”
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