Posted on 11/07/2013 6:15:41 PM PST by SkyPilot
Budget cuts imposed by sequestration will leave the Defense Department with a hollow force and debilitating shortfalls, the Pentagons top acquisitions chief said today.
At a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, outlined the difficultly that the on-going budget sequester is causing in the departments ability to plan for the future.
This is probably the worst time Ive seen in terms of our ability to do a sound plan and execute it with any kind of confidence at all, he said. It is one of the worst environments Ive ever seen to try to manage in, in the Pentagon.
Sequestrations across-the-board cuts, mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011, require DOD to make $500 billion in cuts over 10 years in addition to a previously planned $470 billion cut.
Its a deep cut, Kendall said. We took 10 percent out we took $50 billion out a couple of years ago per year. Sequestration takes another $50 billion per year -- thats a large cut below the level we thought we needed to defend the country.
So theres the steepness of the cut which forces some very difficult choices, he said. Theres a lack of a ramp [where] you can gracefully make changes and not do them abruptly, describing them as almost unmanageable and leading to a force that you could call hollow.
The acquisitions chief noted the department will not have enough training, acquisitions or investments.
So one way or the other, over those next three years, until we can get force structure out, were going to have shortfalls that are going to be debilitating to the department, Kendall said. Theres no avoiding that
if sequestration stays in place.
(Excerpt) Read more at defense.gov ...
What makes me sometimes to wretchedness is the fact that we have so many "Small Government Conservatives" - even here on Free Republic.
"Small Government?"
What a joke.
They care more for their Social Security direct deposit and their Medicare than anything else. And if you doubt that, debate them on that subject.
Oh, but they are "Conservative." Mind you.
You can join in the thread at any time.
Leftists being in charge will turn it into a hollow force
True, and I accept that. I have always accepted that.
What I cannot accept is that Boehner, Ryan, Cantor, McConnell, and all the rest have sold the United States military down the river, and they suffer ZERO repercussions for that. Vote them out - vote them all out.
I agree!
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