US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is vowing to rein in the Pentagon’s mushrooming budget and bloated bureaucracy, hoping to succeed where his predecessors mostly failed.
After having scaled back some major weapons programs, the former CIA director wants to cut up to US$15 billion a year in overhead costs, saying the US can no longer afford a “gusher” of defense spending.
Gates is venturing into treacherous political territory, as US lawmakers view cuts in defense programs as taboo, especially any changes to pay or benefits for service members and veterans.
After a May 8 speech that called for a modest overall rise in defense funding coupled with cost-saving measures, right-leaning commentators accused Gates and US President Barack Obama of scheming to gut the US military.
“The massive and broad cuts to the military budget now being telegraphed will ensure that the armed forces are ever-less-capable of projecting power, leaving the nation and its allies increasingly open to blackmail, if not actual attack,” the conservative Center for Security Policy think tank said.
Some key congressional lawmakers have already proposed raising military pay beyond the increase backed by Gates and called for spending more money on missile defense than recommended by the Pentagon.
Gates in his speech warned “healthcare costs are eating the Defense Department alive,” that overhead and contractor costs are skyrocketing and that layers of unnecessary management had to be cut to free up money for the military’s genuine needs.
He invoked warnings from former US president Dwight Eisenhower that excessive spending on defense could undermine the country’s economic health.
“Eisenhower was wary of seeing his beloved republic turn into a muscle-bound, garrison state — militarily strong, but economically stagnant and strategically insolvent,” he said.
A long line of Pentagon chiefs have tried to slash red tape and streamline the Pentagon, including the man Gates replaced, Donald Rumsfeld. But few had much success, with entrenched interests — including veterans groups and industry — blocking action in US Congress.
“Most defense secretaries develop a similar reform agenda at some point,” Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution said. “Most achieve only limited results.”
Gates said his approach has better prospects because the country faces an economic and fiscal crisis.
“The national economic situation is different than it has ever been in modern times,” Gates told reporters last week. “If we want to sustain the current force, we have no alternative.”
He also said he would allow the armed forces to use savings made in overhead costs for weapons and other hardware, giving them an incentive to exercise financial discipline.
The administration portrays Gates as a major reformer of the Pentagon, citing cuts to costly weapons programs and his willingness to fire top officers.
“He’s been quite decisive in eliminating systems that he thought were not needed,” said Loren Thompson, a fellow at the Lexington Institute and industry consultant.
Skeptics say Gates is no radical reformer, having backed a budget of more than US$700 billion for next year and question why he failed to tackle wasteful Pentagon spending earlier.
“He’s been secretary of defense for 42 months. What has he been waiting for?” said Larry Korb, a former defense official and fellow at the Center for American Progress. “Just do it.”
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