US Defense Secretary Panetta to Announce Cuts to Military Budget

Budget will not allow U.S. top fight two ground wars simultaneously

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is set to share his strategy that will let the Pentagon cut billions of defense dollars. According to the New York Times, the budget will leave the U.S. unable to fight two sustained ground wars at the same time.

Leon Panetta and defense hawks say a reduction of $1 trillion, about 17 percent of the Pentagon's base budget, would be disastrous to national security.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The newspaper quotes unidentified "senior officials" as saying the new budget posits a military that is able to fight and win a major conflict, while being able to "spoil" an adversary's ambitions elsewhere in the world.

The drastically reduced budget is driven by fiscal reality. While there is already broad agreement on $450 billion in cuts over a decade, there is still widespread pressure to cut $500 billion more.

Panetta and defense hawks say a reduction of $1 trillion, about 17 percent of the Pentagon's base budget, would be disastrous to national security. Democrats and a few Republicans admit that it would be painful but manageable; they add that there were steeper military cuts after the Cold War and the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

"Even at a trillion dollars, this is a shallower build-down than any of the last three we've done," Gordon Adams, a fellow at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit research group in Washington says. "It would still be the world's most dominant military. We would be in an arms race with ourselves."

While many who are more worried about cuts, including Panetta, acknowledge that Pentagon personnel costs are unsustainable and that generous retirement benefits may have to be scaled back to save crucial weapons programs.

"If we allow the current trend to continue," Arnold L. Punaro, a consultant on a Pentagon advisory group says. The Defense Business Board, who has pushed for changes in the military retirement system, "we're going to turn the Department of Defense into a benefits company that occasionally kills a terrorist."

According to the Times, Pentagon officials are working on final proposals for potential cuts to virtually every key area of military spending, from the nuclear arsenal and warships to salaries, pensions and health benefits.

Time magazine's Mark Thompson notes that there are few leaks in Panetta's Pentagon, as demonstrated by the lack of specifics on what is on the chopping block.

"Bottom line: the curtain has yet to go up, so we don't really know what's behind it," Thompson writes. "The possible cuts detailed in the Times on Tuesday have been debated nonstop over the last several months. But most folks don't pay attention until such decisions are ready to be unveiled, which makes the Times' recitation timely.

? 2011, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions For January 2012
General Intention: Victims of Natural Disasters.
That the victims of natural disasters may receive the spiritual and material comfort they need to rebuild their lives.
Missionary Intention: Dedication to Peace.
That the dedication of Christians to peace may bear witness to the name of Christ before all men and women of good will.

Source: http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=44279&wf=rsscol

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