The Case for a Balanced Solution to Sequestration
In Washington, at tomorrow night’s Presidential debate, and on the campaign trail, the question of how to find a balanced solution to Congress’ across-the-board “sequester” cuts takes center stage. Pentagon spending – representing half of discretionary spending – must be part of the conversation. Top military leaders have supported Pentagon reshaping, and strategy-based spending reductions, with the goal of restoring the U.S. economy, the foundation of our security, to health. Bipartisan leaders have included such reshaping and assaults on waste and fraud in their comprehensive spending plans. Scaremongering about effects of sequester on jobs and readiness has been rejected by defense industry, military and economic experts. In fact, the only way to maintain the economic foundations of our security is for Congress to do its job and for all sides to compromise.
National security leaders agree: Congress needs to reach a balanced solution:
Ash Carter, deputy secretary of defense: “Sequester was supposed to be … a trigger so irrational that the prospect of it would … drive the leadership to do what was needed, which was to put together an overall budget package for the nation’s finances that could win wide support.”[Ash Carter via Washington Times, 5/30/12]
Lieutenant General David W. Barno, USA (Ret.), Dr. Nora Bensahel, Travis Sharp of CNAS: “The responsible way forward is clear: Congress should set aside sequestration as soon as possible and work to develop a thoughtful, comprehensive deficit-reduction package. The Budget Control Act’s $487 billion level of defense cuts should stand, and any further cuts should be implemented gradually as part of a new deficit-reduction package—while keeping in mind the potential for greater national-security risk as the amount of cuts increases.” [David W. Barno, Nora Bensahel and Travis Sharp, 1/26/12]
Michèle Flournoy, former undersecretary of defense: “The onus is really on Congress to exercise the discipline, the political courage, the pragmatism to reach a budget deal that avoids sequestration, which would impose draconian cuts in a mindless way that would have severe and negative impacts for our national security… I think frankly we would be wise to spend our time trying to build a balanced package … tax reform, spending cuts, and more investment in things that drive American competitiveness.” [Michèle Flournoy via the Cable, 5/15/12]
Military analysts say we can have a balanced solution and a strong defense – if we reshape strategically. Sequestration’s inflexible cuts across the board must be avoided. Yet, the fact is that the Pentagon would remain well financed even with sequestration-sized reshaping – well below the level of past post-war drawdowns — and bipartisan panels such as Bowles-Simpson and Domenici-Rivlin have proposed them. As Brookings Senior Fellow Peter Singer explains, “At the height of the Iraq war, US spending was above half of all the world’s military spending, but is now down to slightly above 40% of all military spending. Sequestration would take it down by about 2% more of the pie, roughly 38% of all global military spending, excluding any likely contingency or war spending.” Further, Singer notes, “Nor will cuts ‘destroy’ the US military upon which our allies’ security also depends. As Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations captured so well, ‘It is implausible that the entire U.S. military would be unable to function with just under $500 billion.’” [Peter Singer, 9/23/12]
Sober voices reject sequester scaremongering:
Experts say “there’s actually some cushion” before sequestration would cut defense employment. A recent study by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis found that “While sequestration will reduce funding for nearly all acquisition programs across DoD, it will not directly terminate programs,” thus “there’s actually some cushion here for the defense industry.” [Todd Harrison via AOL Defense, 8/24/12]
Pentagon contractors put profits over people, cutting jobs in good times and bad. Even during the best of times, Pentagon contractors have cut jobs – showing that even giving them more money isn’t a solution to more jobs. Ben Freeman, an analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, explains that, “In the past five years the top five defense contractors—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon—collectively cut nearly 20,000 jobs while their contracts from the DoD increased by more than $10 billion. In short, if there is any connection between revenue and employment it has, at least recently, been in the opposite direction…” At the same time, he continues, “while these firms have been cutting jobs they’ve been increasing the compensation packages for their top executives.” [Ben Freeman, 9/21/12]
What We’re Reading
NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO troop withdrawal from Afghanistan might be sped up, amid setbacks from “insider” attacks.
Russia told NATO and world powers not to seek ways to intervene in Syria’s civil war or set up buffer zones between rebel and government forces.
A video was posted on a pro-Syrian government website showing missing American journalist Austin Tice alive but held hostage by Islamist militants.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili admitted that his party lost Georgia’s parliamentary elections, marking the first democratic transfer of power in Georgia’s post-Soviet history.
A European Union advisory group says that Europe’s banks should be split into separate legal entities, in order to protect everyday banking from risky trading.
A key ally of Ivory Coast’s former President Laurent Gbagbo will go on trial for murder, in the first case of those accused over the 2010-11 post-election violence.
Al Qaeda affiliates in northern Mali gain global attention following Mali’s formal request for military assistance, and the move for international military intervention gains momentum.
The Japanese coastguard reported that four Chinese government ships entered territorial waters around disputed islands in the East China Sea.
The White House confirmed reports of a cyber-attack, saying it was on an unclassified network but did not confirm reports that the hackers were linked to the Chinese government.
To deter intimidation during the upcoming municipal elections, Brazil deploys troops into some of Rio de Janeiro’s poorest areas.
Commentary of the Day
The Washington Post describes the administration’s “meaningful new initiatives” to combat human trafficking.
Jim Marshall explains the importance of fair elections in Afghanistan and how that can be achieved.
Aaron David Miller evaluates the substance, and Heather Hurlburt the politics, of Mitt Romney’s Middle East op-ed.
