Little attention has been paid to the transformation now going on at the Department of Defense. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is on a mission to control the spiraling cost of defense spending which has been out of control.
The Defense Secretary wisely realizes that with spiraling federal deficits and federal debt which is out of control will have a detrimental impact on future defense budgets if not reign in. He commented last week the spigot of increased spending at the Department of Defense has ended and the time has come to get spending under control.
The biggest culprit to reigning in the cost of defense spending is Congress! Too often billions of dollars are wasted on cost overruns or weapons systems that are not need, but unfortunately the Pentagon is forced to receive equipment it doesn’t need or want. Any weapon system you look at eliminating you first must find out what state or district that system in manufactured in and you will find a representative or senator fighting to retain it.
The C-17 cargo aircraft is a prime example of this abuse. The Air Force didn’t want this aircraft but because it was built in Long Beach both California Senators and others fought to keep it alive. The Air Force was then forced to pay an additional cost of 2.7 billion dollars for a system it didn’t want or need. The list goes on and on of Congress looking after themselves instead of what’s best for the nation.
No wonder that nation has a ballooning federal debt; Congress just cannot stop spending the taxpayers money. As the secretary reiterated this can’t go on forever! Even the Joint Forces Command issued a study back in February and listed the national debt as a threat to the security of the nation, but Congress just places its head in the sand and continues outrageous spending.
If this continues the nation is headed for a financial meltdown just like what has been going on Europe. Who will then bail us out?
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