Pentagon board says cuts essential-Tells Obama to slash large weapons programs

[babylonsister]

Pentagon board says cuts essential
Tells Obama to slash large weapons programs
By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / November 10, 2008


WASHINGTON - A senior Pentagon advisory group, in a series of bluntly worded briefings, is warning President-elect Barack Obama that the Defense Department's current budget is "not sustainable," and he must scale back or eliminate some of the military's most prized weapons programs.

The briefings were prepared by the Defense Business Board, an internal management oversight body. It contends that the nation's recent financial crisis makes it imperative that the Pentagon and Congress slash some of the nation's most costly and troubled weapons to ensure they can finance the military's most pressing priorities.

Those include rebuilding ground forces battered by multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan and expanding the ranks to wage the war on terrorism.

"Business as usual is no longer an option," according to one of the internal briefings prepared in late October for the presidential transition, copies of which were provided to the Globe. "The current and future fiscal environments facing the department demand bold action."

The briefings do not specify which programs should be cut, but defense analysts say that prime targets would probably include the new F-35 fighter jet, a series of Navy ship programs, and a massive Army project to build a new generation of ground combat vehicles, all of which have been skyrocketing in cost and suffering long development delays.

more...

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/11/10/pentagon_board_says_cuts_essential/

[ogneopasno]

1. Cuts needed at Pentagon? UNPOSSIBLE!

[Tiggeroshii]

2. Wow!

That's actually quite unexpected...

[ixion]

3. "to wage the war on terrorism"

I want to see an end to phrases such as that. Terrorism is a criminal issue, NOT a military one.

There is NO SUCH THING as a 'war' on terror, and people need to be slapped down when using such silly phrases.

[woodsprite]

4. I'd like to see "Homeland" changed to something else.

I have always felt so WWII German-ish (is that a word?) saying/hearing that. It's always bothered me, maybe this new admin will coin a fresh new, not-so-Hitleresque name.

[ixion]

5. rather than renaming, DHS and TSA should go the way of the Third Reich

because both are blatantly authoritarian entities and therefore distinctly anti-American, IMO.

[OregonBlue]

6. I agree completely. It would be expensive to make the change but I don't care. I hate the name.