DOD Budget Chief Outlines Limits
Bettina H. Chavanne chavanne@aviationweek.com
The economic landscape beyond fiscal 2010 may "not be as rosy as projected," according to the Pentagon's budget chief, requiring belt-tightening of the nation's defense budget.
Based strictly on current facts and figures, the U.S. can afford to spend 4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), Navy Vice Adm. Stephen Stanley told an Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA) luncheon May 11. But that does not mean it should, he said. "If we can afford the nation's defense at 3 percent, then that's what we should spend." The goal should be to buy the defense the nation needs, not what it can afford, he said.
Less than a week ago, Stanley briefed the details of the Pentagon's defense budget for fiscal 2010. At the AFCEA event, he said his concern is for subsequent years' budgets. "I'm worried the economic downturn won't turn as quickly as they think," he said. Stanley's remarks come as some - mainly conservative - lawmakers and commenters criticize the Obama administration and Pentagon leadership for a Fiscal 2010 budget that either does not spend enough overall, or enough on major weapons programs that they like, or both. Last week, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) argued that hard economic times and rising costs elsewhere in the Defense Department's budget should not lead to reducing efforts toward "cutting-edge" weapons systems that U.S. forces may need in the future.
"The administration seems to be forcing the Pentagon to make some needlessly tough choices - even as they justify trillions of dollars for domestic spending in the name of economic stimulus," Cornyn told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute.
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