Gates Will Present President With Cost-cutting Options

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2011 — Defense Sec­re­tary Robert M. Gates is “a leader when it comes to fis­cal respon­si­bil­i­ty” and will pro­vide Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma with options — along with the pros and cons of each — to make addi­tion­al defense cuts, the assis­tant sec­re­tary of defense for pub­lic affairs said yes­ter­day.

Gates “has made some very hard choic­es and some very inno­v­a­tive deci­sions in doing his effi­cien­cies exer­cise,” Dou­glas B. Wil­son told inter­view­er Vago Mura­di­an on “This Week in Defense News.” 

Oba­ma announced last week that he would work with Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chair­man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to find addi­tion­al cost sav­ings beyond the $400 bil­lion in reduc­tions the depart­ment has made over the past two years. 

The goal is an addi­tion­al $400 bil­lion in nation­al secu­ri­ty cuts through 2023, to help real­ize $2 tril­lion in sav­ings as part of a plan to reduce fed­er­al bor­row­ing by $4 tril­lion over the next 12 years. 

“We have been giv­en a mis­sion, and the sec­re­tary will under­take it,” Wil­son said. 

It’s too ear­ly to deter­mine where exact­ly those cuts will be made, he said, not­ing that Oba­ma called for a review of the nation’s role in the world, along with its mis­sions and responsibilities. 

“That will be the frame­work for this ini­tia­tive,” Wil­son said. “And the sec­re­tary of defense is com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing the pres­i­dent with the options nec­es­sary and the choic­es and the impli­ca­tions of those choices.” 

Pen­ta­gon Press Sec­re­tary Geoff Mor­rell said Gates believes that the Defense Depart­ment can­not be exempt from efforts to trim the fed­er­al budget. 

“How­ev­er, it is impor­tant that any reduc­tion in [defense] fund­ing be shaped by strat­e­gy and pol­i­cy choic­es, and not by a bud­get math exer­cise,” Mor­rell said. 

Gates “has been clear that fur­ther sig­nif­i­cant defense cuts can­not be accom­plished with­out reduc­ing forces struc­ture and mil­i­tary capa­bil­i­ties,” Mor­rell added. “The com­pre­hen­sive review of mis­sions, capa­bil­i­ties and America’s role in the world will iden­ti­fy alter­na­tives for the president’s consideration.” 

Accom­plish­ing the president’s goal, Mor­rell said, “must be about man­ag­ing risks asso­ci­at­ed with future threats and nation­al secu­ri­ty chal­lenges and iden­ti­fy­ing mis­sions that the coun­try is will­ing to forego.” 

Oba­ma has acknowl­edged that the Pen­ta­gon has been at the fore­front at elim­i­nat­ing “unneed­ed, duplica­tive and obso­lete pro­grams and admin­is­tra­tive over­head,” Mor­rell said. 

The pres­i­dent “wants us to con­tin­ue this effort with the goal of sig­nif­i­cant addi­tion­al sav­ings over the com­ing decade,” Mor­rell added. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter

Team GlobDef

Seit 2001 ist GlobalDefence.net im Internet unterwegs, um mit eigenen Analysen, interessanten Kooperationen und umfassenden Informationen für einen spannenden Überblick der Weltlage zu sorgen. GlobalDefence.net war dabei die erste deutschsprachige Internetseite, die mit dem Schwerpunkt Sicherheitspolitik außerhalb von Hochschulen oder Instituten aufgetreten ist.

Alle Beiträge ansehen von Team GlobDef →