Pentagon to Slash Military to Pre-World War II Levels

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is proposing to submit a Pentagon budget today, calling for a sharp shrinkage of the U.S. Army to the smallest size since 1940, with many clamoring this will hurt U.S. security.

When Secretary Hagel announces his Pentagon priorities today, included in his budget will have the Army scaled back to around 440,000 to 450,000 from a wartime peak of 570,000.  Currently the Army has made plans to reduce to 490,000, but the Pentagon plans for deeper reductions.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, vocally expressed dismay at the cuts laid out by the Secretary of Defense and the Pentagon.

“It’s all being sacrificed … on the altar of entitlements. This president cannot take on mandatory spending, so all we’ve done in the Congress — and this president — is basically cut discretionary spending.”

Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, stated the Secretary worked closely with the various service chiefs on how to further reduce the Pentagon budget.

Kirby said, “He has worked hard with the services to ensure that we continue to stand for the defense of our national interests — that whatever budget priorities we establish, we do so in keeping with our defense strategy and with a strong commitment to the men and women in uniform and to their families.”

Secretary Hagel’s plan has been endorsed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, protects Special Operations forces and cyber warfare. The budget calls for the Navy to maintain its carrier force at 11, but it also calls for the elimination of the entire fleet of Air Force A-10 attack aircraft.

Secretary Hagel’s proposed budget maintains the often plagued and costly F-35 aircraft but limit military pay raises and higher health care costs and other scaled back personnel costs.

The one aspect which has not been addressed by this budget is the overhaul of the Pentagon procurement and acquisitions systems. Far too often costly cost overruns on various weapon systems run into the billions, then suddenly the system is cancelled or wildly over budget.

Congress routinely uses the Defense Department as job patronage system to bring pork barrel projects to their states or districts.  This sort of practice infuriated former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. 

Gates included this in his controversial book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.”

One only has to remember President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address when he warned,” In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.  The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

This wasn’t directed at one political party but the broad coalition which permeates in the national defense security issues.

For far too long, the Department of Defense has failed to overhaul its own budget, and last month an influential Pentagon advisory board reported the US Defense Department could save $27- to $37-billion annually if it implemented private sector businesses practices.

It’s easy to reduce spending at the Pentagon, but are we making the right decisions? The Pentagon needs to be reduced from its war time high, but it must be done in a systematic and strategic way, not through the lens of politics.  

I am reminded of a quote by Edmund Burke, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”  One only has to look at history with regard to sharply reducing the military that has come back to haunt the United States.    

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