Pentagon: Force structure, program cuts of $34B

[unhappycamper]

Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said June 4 that he doubted plans to slice the Pentagon budget would produce “major force structure changes.”


Pentagon: Force structure, program cuts of $34B
By John T. Bennett - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jun 4, 2010 18:19:38 EDT

One-third of the $101.9 billion Pentagon brass intend to trim over the next five years will come out of force structure and modernization accounts, meaning more weapons could be axed, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said Friday.

“This is not an effort to reduce the topline budget,” Lynn told reporters. Rather, “it is an effort to operate with … a constrained top line.”

The White House’s budget czar has told Pentagon officials to expect annual topline budget growth of 1 percent for five years, yet 2 percent to 3 percent annual real growth is needed “to give the troops what they need,” Lynn said.

In the next day or so, he said, DoD officials will order all services, commands and agencies to start looking for savings. Each will submit its proposals by July 30, when its fiscal 2012 spending plans are due to OSD.

According to a DoD fact sheet, each service must free up $2 billion for fiscal 2012, while each agency must trim another $1 billion.