9/21/11 RD Bulletin: Panetta-McKeon Stonewall; Obama Throws Smoke

ed. Ethan R. Rosenkranz

State of Play

Legislative: The Super Committee meets again in private this week, holding a second closed-door session on Tuesday to discuss its upcoming spending reduction proposal. Last week, a bipartisan group of more than thirty senators urged the Super Committee to find at least $4 trillion in savings by embracing tax and entitlement reforms. HASC Chairman Buck McKeon is considering leading an effort to "wall off" defense spending from any automatic sequestration cuts and the Chairman is preparing a briefing document for the Super Committee showing the potential consequences of additional Pentagon spending reductions.

Executive: On Monday, President Obama outlined his own deficit reduction and job creation plan, which included recommendations for reforming TRICARE and addressing military retirement costs. The President also counted more than $1 trillion in savings from CBO baseline by winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Service chiefs, led by Secretary Panetta, fight against further cuts to the defense budget, as they acknowledge that the Defense Department will have to become smaller and leaner. Sec. Panetta is preparing guidance for how the services can advocate to Congress against spending cuts.

Highlights

Washington Post: Defense Department Needs to Change Spending Culture
Walter Pincus opines: "Rational reductions in defense spending will only come with cutting down what this country expects its military to do." (9/20/11)

Battleland: Reaping Non-Existent Savings From Defense

Gordon Adams explains the follies in counting savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (9/19/11)

The Will and the Wallet: A $10B Move
The Senate Appropriations Committee moves almost $10 billion from DoD's base budget into the OCO account. (9/16/11)

BusinessWeek: Probing the Pentagon's Fuzzy Math
Bloomberg report challenges sixty percent of the Pentagon's $178 billion in efficiency savings as "illusory." (9/1/11)

Other News and Commentary

American Forces Press Service: Panetta: Cuts Will Boost Risk to Nation At War

Def. Sec. Panetta lists the priorities that will guide spending decisions at the Pentagon following enactment of the Budget Control Act. (9/20/11)

AOL Defense: NATO Chief: Unity Needed To Survive European Budget Crisis

Gen. Stephane Abrial outlines the funding challenges facing NATO as European nations cut back on defense spending. (9/20/11)

National Defense: Pentagon Should Think Twice Before It Cuts Ground Forces, Historians Say

John McManus argues that post-conflict troop reductions throughout U.S. history have been ill-advised. (October 2011)

The Hill: Pentagon Notebook: Panetta to Issue Guide On How Military Should Talk Cuts

Def. Sec. Panetta will soon issue guidance to the services on interacting with Congress as additional defense cuts loom. (9/20/11)

Reuters: Pentagon May Delay Work on 100 more F-35 Fighters

The Pentagon may be considering delaying production of 100 F-35s in order to meet spending reduction targets. (9/19/11)

Defense Tech: Air Force Wants to Keep Almost Everything

Secretary Michael Donly lists the Air Force's upcoming spending priorities. (9/19/11)

Newsweek: Republican Military Deserters

Cracks are beginning to appear in the once staunchly-pro defense spending GOP caucus. (9/18/11)

Arms Control Today: Nuclear Triad Budgets Questioned

How the Budget Control Act could impact the NNSA budget, U.S. nuclear readiness, and modernization efforts. (September 2011)

Aviation Week: A&D Supporters Dig In on Capitol Hill

Overview of an array of reforms being considered by the services and the arguments being put forth by key pro-defense lawmakers. (9/16/11)

The Weekly Standard: Sequestration's Hidden Trillion Dollar Cut to Defense

The Weekly Standard continues to spread the claim that the Pentagon could face more than $1 trillion in cuts over the next decade. (9/16/11)

Foreign Policy: Nides: We Don't Want to Have to Fight DOD For Money, But We Might Have To

Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides understands that State might have to compete for security dollars with DoD and supports the idea of a unified security budget. (9/1/11)

Reports and Releases

Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments: Sustaining Critical Sectors of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base

Report analyzes the resources needed to sustain the military industrial base over the next decade. (9/20/11)

The White House: Living Within Our Means and Investing in the Future: The President's Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction

President Obama's new deficit reduction and job creation plan. (9/19/11)