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| Pentagon's 'endless money' era ends | |
| 2010-08-10 | |
| Robert Gates, US defence secretary, on Monday announced what could be the biggest cuts to the Pentagon bureaucracy since September 11, as he declared that the era of "endless money" had come to an end. Mr Gates announced cuts of almost 30 per cent on outside contractors, and curbs on military intelligence agencies and his own staff, as well as the proposed abolition of a military command and a reduction in the ranks of generals and admirals in Europe and beyond. The cuts would lead to the loss of thousands of jobs but could be fiercely resisted in Congress. "The culture of endless money that has taken hold must be replaced by a culture of savings and restraint," Mr Gates told a press conference. But he added: "My greatest fear is that in economic tough times that people will see the defence budget as the place to solve the nation's deficit problems, to find money for other parts of the government." The US's looming fiscal crunch is almost certain to end the breakneck expansion in military expenditure that has nearly doubled the base defence budget in 10 years to $549bn (€414bn, £345bn) for 2011.
Although he did not specify a figure for total savings from his latest move, the Pentagon chief's goal is to find enough savings from reduced overheads to increase core defence spending by 2 to 3 per cent a year with only a 1 per cent annual rise in the overall budget. Painting a dark picture of the global landscape, Mr Gates said slashing the budget overall would be "disastrous" at a time when the world was becoming more unstable. | |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #4 Lose the WAR and you won't have to worry about money or much of anything else. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-08-10 22:06 |
| #3 There was never an "endless money" era, Gates. Y'all just acted like there was one. Idiot. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-08-10 21:15 |
| #2 no the bureaucracy will still be there.It will hurt the troops in the field or the navy fleet. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-08-10 18:25 |
| #1 "Era of endless money." Endless Secretary of Defense seeks to end.......endless "Era of endless money. * Secretary of Defense Robert Gates..... sworn in 18 December 2006. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-08-10 17:27 |