Obama Wants $400B In Defense Cuts

Politico reports:

The mention of defense-related spending was brief and came late in President Barack Obama’s Wednesday speech on deficit reduction, but the low-key treatment may have obscured the potentially far-reaching implications of his call to reduce security-related expenditures by $400 billion over the next 12 years.

The language Obama used was vague and confusing to both reporters and policy analysts, but lawmakers and defense officials warned that cuts of that magnitude were virtually certain to cause a dramatic reduction in U.S. military’s global footprint, size and capabilities.

“Over the last two years, Secretary Bob Gates has courageously taken on wasteful spending, saving $400 billion in current and future spending. I believe we can do that again,” the president said. “We need to not only eliminate waste and improve efficiency and effectiveness, but we’re going to have to conduct a fundamental review of America’s missions, capabilities, and our role in a changing world. I intend to work with Secretary Gates and the Joint Chiefs on this review, and I will make specific decisions about spending after it’s complete.”

White House and Pentagon officials later confirmed that Obama was proposing another $400 billion in cuts on top of the savings projected over the next decade in the administration’s fiscal 2012 budget. The already-detailed cuts would produce more than $400 billion in savings through fiscal 2021, officials said.

Obama’s announcement Wednesday amounts to an abrupt doubling in proposed spending cuts just two months after he proposed his fiscal 2012 budget, which has yet to be acted on by Congress.

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