By Marina Malenic
The conclusion of the war in Iraq and the United States’ lingering economic difficulties will soon spell an end to the Pentagon’s spending frenzy of the past decade, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned last week.
Speaking at the Eisenhower Library in Kansas on May 8, Gates warned that the massive increase in defense spending in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is coming to a close.
“Given America’s difficult economic circumstances and fiscal condition, military spending on things large and small can and should expect closer, harsher scrutiny,” Gates said in a keynote speech marking the 65th anniversary of the victory in Europe in World War II, or V-E Day.
“The gusher has been turned off, and will stay off for a good period of time,” he added.
The Pentagon’s base budget has more than doubled since 2001.
Gates has used a series of recent public comments to lay the groundwork for the Eisenhower library speech. Earlier in the week, he questioned the need for an expensive next- generation submarine for the Navy and an amphibious vehicle for the Marine Corps, among other expensive high-tech weapon systems the services are planning to buy (Defense Daily, May 4).
Instead, Gates plans to continue his push to buy simpler, cheaper weapons that have proved far more useful in the kinds of counterinsurgency operations that have been conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, he succeeded in slashing or eliminating 30 major acquisitions programs–a savings of about $330 billion over time.
And while the United States owes quality health care to its “wounded warriors,” Gates pointed out that members of the military health care system, TRICARE, have not been charged increases in premiums for 15 years–this despite the fact that the program’s annual cost has risen to $50 billion from $19 billion a mere decade ago. He warned that these costs “are eating the Defense Department alive.”
Gates said that another of his priorities is to flatten the military’s command structure and eliminate military offices that have little direct role in warfare–including sharp cuts in the number of admirals and generals.
“The private sector has flattened and streamlined the middle and upper echelons of its organization charts, yet the Defense Department continues to maintain a top-heavy hierarchy that more reflects 20th century headquarters superstructure than 21st century realities,” Gates said.
Gates is seeking $10 billion to $15 billion in savings from the $547-billion Pentagon base budget. He has, therefore, ordered the military services and major commands to take “a hard, unsparing look” at their budgets and to come up with some cuts.
“It is not a great mystery what needs to change,” Gates said. “What it takes is the political will and willingness, as Eisenhower possessed, to make hard choices–choices that will displease powerful people both inside the Pentagon and out.”
As president, Eisenhower was known for pushing for cuts to offset new any new defense spending. During his farewell address in the Oval Office, he warned about the “grave implications” of an overly powerful “military-industrial complex.”
“Eisenhower was wary of seeing his beloved republic turn into a muscle-bound, garrison state–militarily strong but economically stagnant and strategically insolvent,” Gates said.
The defense chief said the bulk of his proposed cuts would come in the next budget cycle, whose writing begins this summer.
“The goal is to cut our overhead costs and to transfer those savings to force structure and modernization within the programmed budget,” Gates said. “Simply taking a few percent off the top of everything on a one-time basis will not do.”
Gates acknowledged that many of his predecessors have tried and failed to cut Pentagon waste. He attributed such failures to a lack of cost-cutting incentive for the services. This time, he said, the services will be able to apply to their own budgets any cost savings they are able to find.
“What I’m asking for is not a simple budget cut,” he said. “I’m talking about changing the way we do business.”