U.S. Military Cuts Budget

Written by admin on Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

Outgoing U.S. Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta has stated that cutting defense during sequestration and continuing resolution will hollow out the force. Despite his protests, he has provided a plan that will focus the military towards the future and will prioritize limited budgets into areas that will create the best use for limited resources.

For over a decade the U.S. military has been in foreign lands combating terrorists and insurgents and the U.S. budgets have felt the strain. The U.S. deficit is at record levels and the U.S. is faced with a fiscal cliff that, barring any last minute politics, will greatly impact the U.S. military’s current and future readiness. Secretary Panetta has voiced his opposition for slashing the military budget but has readied the force with a strategy that lays out the future for the U.S. military.

First, he states that the military must adopt and innovate into new technologies, being at the cutting edge of new advancements for the reduced smaller and leaner force is essential to projecting the flexible and agile presence in a world filled with crisis. Secondly, the military must be able to project power into the Pacific and Middle cheap cialis 10 mg East areas. The two areas are historically troubled and being able to react to conflicts is essential to U.S. interests.

Thirdly, the U.S. needs to focus on not only the Pacific and Middle East areas but be able to maintain a presence in other parts of the world to foster partnerships and alliances with countries in Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia. Fourthly, the U.S. must have the means and the conviction to respond to two conflicts at once. He states that a conflict with North Korea and a conflict in the Straits of Hormuz must be sustainable.

Lastly, if cuts are made he emphasizes that the right cuts need to be made based upon priorities. He states that understanding what the priorities are for the future will largely determine where cuts need to be made. He specifically calls out a priority in cyber, unmanned systems, special operations and space, all of which will undoubtedly shape the future military.

As with the end of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, the U.S. military has always reduced its military footprint to reflect the needs of the country and after Iraq and Afghanistan, things are no different but setting the course for the future given the tighter budgets while also maintaining military readiness is a balancing act that cannot be taken lightly.

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