Pentagon Sounds Alarm on Threat of Budget Cuts

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon pushed back aggressively on Wednesday against what senior officials warned was the prospect of $1 trillion in military budget cuts and thousands of layoffs, furloughs and reductions in military programs over the next decade.

Less than 24 hours after President Obama signed a debt-ceiling bill calling for trillions of dollars in reduced government spending, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and top Pentagon officials said that large cuts to the Pentagon budget — which has more than doubled since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — would imperil the nation’s security.

In a letter to Defense Department personnel posted Wednesday morning on the Pentagon’s Web site, Mr. Panetta warned that if a Congressional panel could not reach agreement on cuts to the nation’s deficit, “it could trigger a round of dangerous across-the-board defense cuts that would do real damage to our security, our troops and their families, and our ability to protect the nation.”

Mr. Panetta’s letter was followed by a briefing to reporters by a senior Pentagon official who said that while he did not want to alarm people in the Defense Department, he saw the possibility of involuntary separations — or the laying off of military personnel — as well as layoffs and furloughs of civilians who work for the Pentagon.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/politics/04pentagon.html

[lonestarnot]

1. Wah Wah Wah Wambulance please.

[RC]

2. The VERY FIRST thing to cut in the Pentagon budget is

the money for the mercenaries. Give them 30 days notice them just do it. Cut their funds off, period. That will give our military something to do while they arrange to bring our military home. What will our military do once home? How about policing the bases until their tour is up.

[chill_wind]

3. Leon No-Witch-Hunts for Torturers Panetta.

The consummate politician.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/08/defense-spending-expectations-largely-unchanged-by-debt-deal-080111/

[UpInArms]

4. U.S. trucking contracts funded Taliban, source says

... ah... I do believe some of that money needs to be cut ...

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-25/world/afghanistan.us.funds.taliban_1_source-task-force-trucking?_s=PM:WORLD

A U.S. military task force has discovered that part of a $2.16 billion transportation contract was diverted through a murky network of subcontractors and into the hands of a group of Afghan power-brokers, criminals and Taliban insurgents, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Roughly $600 million of the contract had been spent before authorities were alerted to the scandal, the source said, citing an internal report.

Only part of that money, however, is believed to have been diverted to "nefarious elements," the source added.

<snip>

"There were indications dollars were flowing to criminals or to the enemy," sad the Pentagon official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the record but who has direct knowledge of the U.S. assessment.

...more...

[bloomington-lib]

5. Shutting down some of these bases might be a start

World Wide

Afghanistan...
Bagram Air Base
Camp Dwyer
Camp Leatherneck
FOB Delaram
Kandahar International Airport
Shindand Airbase
Bahrain...
NRCC Bahrain
NSA Bahrain
Belgium...
USAG Benelux
USAG Brussels
Bulgaria...
Aitos Logistics Center
Bezmer Air Base
Graf Ignatievo Air Base
Novo Selo Range
Cuba...
Guantanamo Bay
Germany...
Campbell Barracks
Landstuhl Medical Center
NATO Base Geilenkirchen
Panzer Kaserne
Patrick Henry Village
Ramstein AB
Spangdahlem Air Base
USAG Ansbach
USAG Bamberg
USAG Baumholder
USAG Darmstadt
USAG Garmisch
USAG Grafenwoehr
USAG Heidelberg
USAG Hessen
USAG Hohenfels
USAG Kaiserslautern
USAG Mannheim
USAG Schweinfurt
USAG Stuttgart
USAG Wiesbaden
Greece...
NSA Souda Bay
Greenland...
Thule Air Base
Guam...
Andersen AFB
Naval Base Guam
Naval Forces Marianas
Iraq...
Camp Baharia
Camp Banzai
Camp Bucca
Camp Fallujah
Camp Taji
Camp Victory
COP Shocker
FOB Abu Ghraib
FOB Grizzly
FOB Sykes
Joint Base Balad
Victory Base Complex
Italy...
Aviano AB
Camp Darby
Caserma Ederle
NAS Sigonella
NSA Gaeta
NSA La Maddalena
NSA Naples
Japan...
Camp Courtney
Camp Foster
Camp Fuji
Camp Gonsalves
Camp Hansen
Camp Kinser
Camp Lester
Camp McTureous
Camp S.D. Butler
Camp Schwab
Camp Zama
Fleet Activities Okinawa
Fleet Activities Sasebo
Fleet Activities Yokosuka
Fort Buckner
Kadena Air Base
MCAS Futenma
MCAS Iwakuni
Misawa Air Base
Naval Air Facility Atsugi
Torii Station
Yokota Air Base
Yontan Airfield
Kosovo...
Camp Bondsteel
Kuwait...
Ali Al Salem Airbase
Camp Arifjan
Camp Buehring
Camp Doha
Camp New York
Camp Patriot
Camp Spearhead
Camp Virginia
Kyrgyzstan...
Transit Center at Manas
Netherlands...
Joint Force Command Brunssum
USAG Schinnen
Portugal...
Lajes Field
Puerto Rico...
Fort Buchanan
Qatar...
Al Udeid Air Base
Saudi Arabia...
Eskan Village Air Base
King Abdul Aziz Air Base
King Fahd Air Base
King Khalid Air Base
Riyadh Air Base
Singapore...
Logistics Group Western Pacific
South Korea...
Camp Carroll
Camp Casey
Camp Castle
Camp Eagle
Camp Hovey
Camp Humphreys
Camp Market
Camp Red Cloud
Camp Stanley
Fleet Activities Chinhae
K-16 Air Base
Kunsan Air Base
Osan Air Base
USAG Daegu
USAG Yongsan
Spain...
Morón Air Base
Naval Station Rota
Turkey...
Incirlik Air Base
Izmir Air Base
United Kingdom...
RAF Alconbury
RAF Croughton
RAF Fairford
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Menwith Hill
RAF Mildenhal

[classysassy]

13. All military bases

In Germany,England,Spain,Japan,Korea and Cuba,we are not wanted or needed by the average citizens just the greedy war profiteers and the puppets we put in place.

[on point]

6. 4 Trillion in cuts is better! "You wage imperialism with the budget you have"

[Lasher]

7. Hell, their pre-emptive budget whining has been deafening for months.

If we would cut the pentagon back to 2001 levels and eliminate the Bush/Obama tax cuts, we would have a balanced budget. It's really just that simple.

[on point]

8. 1000+!! The whole delusional right wing economic model is a failure.

If your model is wrong, your diagnosis will probably be wrong and you are likely to prescribe the wrong solution.

That is where we stand today. It is not just that there policies do not reflect human values, or fairness across the board, they are based on non factual, delusional thinking.

Until we start saying clearly and up front that the idea that tax cuts for the wealthy leads to job growth is a nutty delusional idea based on economic ignorance and 'faith based' thinking, we get no where.

It is no accident that there is a population overlap between delusional economic fools and people who do not believe in logic, facts or science. These are the same stupid fools who think the planet is only 5000 thousand years old.

They ar a danger to the planet.

[PoliticAverse]

9. Who picked this guy to be defense secretary ? n/t

[russspeakeasy]

10. Hurry ! Start another war !!! Quick, show them we need the money.

The Somalis are coming the Somalis are coming...!!:nuke: :headbang: :sarcasm:

[theophilus]

11. But what if SOMETHING happens in the next few days/weeks/months? n/t

[BlueIdaho]

12. When your defense budget equals the rest of the world's combined

It's time for more than a trim, it's time for a buzz cut.

[SoapBox]

14. The Pig at the Trough, is squealing!

Oh boo hoo...no more $1000 hammers.

Suck it up.