InsideDefense.com
March 8, 2012
Despite a stern warning from the Senate Budget Committee chairman about the likelihood of more defense cuts that would not be as extreme as sequestration, the Defense Department is not planning for that scenario, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said today.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), during a Feb. 28 hearing, counseled Hale, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey to come to grips with the likelihood of more cuts.
“I hope the conclusion is not that there’s no additional savings that can be derived from defense, not another nickel, because I don’t believe it,” Conrad said. “I mean, I’ve spent a great deal of time looking at places we could save responsibly.”
But Hale was dismissive today when asked if DOD is doing any serious thinking about the prospect for more defense cuts that fall short of the worst-case scenario of sequestration.
“Well, the answer,” he said, “is no.” DOD’s position is that its fiscal year 2013 budget request is “roughly consistent with the security threats we face,” he added.
Citing Conrad’s warning, Hale said, “I won’t be naive. . . . We might be thinking about it, but we’re sure not planning for that one and we hope it doesn’t happen.”
If that scenario were to happen late in the year during a lame-duck session of Congress, it would be a challenge for the White House and the Pentagon to incorporate the cuts into DOD’s FY-14 budget plan, Hale said at the Credit Suisse/McAleese defense program conference in Arlington, VA.
Cuts on the order of tens of billions of dollars would force the Pentagon to rethink its security strategy, which would require a long-term process, he said. If the cuts were significantly smaller, DOD might be able to handle the problem through a different process, he said.
— Christopher J. Castelli
Mastermind Century Group 