Robert Gates Leads The Charge To Cut Costly Weaponry
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Military, Money
A new type of threat requires new ways of combating it.
Thankfully our Defense Secretary is leading that charge with some needed changes to the Pentagon’s budget.
WASHINGTON – As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates, whose two years as defense secretary had been devoted to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, felt compelled to warn his successor of a crisis closer to home.The United States “cannot expect to eliminate national security risks through higher defense budgets, to do everything and buy everything,” Gates said. The next defense secretary, he warned, would have to eliminate some costly hardware and invest in new tools for fighting insurgents.
What Gates didn’t know was that he would be that successor.
So what will be cut?
Two defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly said Gates will announce up to a half-dozen major weapons cancellations later this month. Candidates include a new Navy destroyer, the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jet, and Army ground-combat vehicles, the offi cials said.More cuts are planned for later this year after a review that could lead to reductions in programs such as aircraft carriers and nuclear arms, the officials said.
We all knew that somebody had to reign in this spending eventually, and of course it had to be under a Democratic administration. Still, it’s heartening to see that a guy like Gates realized that these cuts had to be made even before Obama won. Because, as stated, our weaponry doesn’t necessarily make us any safer.
More as it develops…
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 and is filed under Military, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:01 am
We all knew that somebody had to reign in this spending eventually, and of course it had to be under a Democratic administration.
You. can’t. be. serious.
March 17th, 2009 at 8:23 am
well, that’s it…the terrorists are going to get us now, right Snoop?
March 17th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Yeah, there’s absolutely no precedence for that, is there gerryf?
But your 3.5 trillion-dollar “budget” will finally crack the mysterious code of pig flatulance. Now that’s responsible government!
March 17th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Not to worry everybody, Russia plans on picking up the slack. Hopefully their weaponry will make us safer.
March 18th, 2009 at 3:26 am
We have to stop funding projects that don’t meet the threats that we face now. The F-22 isn’t going to stop any terrorists from attacking the US. We need to spend money to keep the country safe, but we have to be smart about how that money is spent.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Air superiority is a key to keeping terrorist harboring countries in check, as is sea superiority. Missle defense systems are all that stands between us and North Korea and Iran. A strong defense is based on the capability of a strong offense. This is not a football game. We can’t just develop tech that protects our shores. We have to bring the fight to them, or they will bring the fight to us [more often].