BrianGarst.com

The new budget proposal includes significant cuts and changes.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates outlined sweeping changes to the defense budget Monday that would shift billions of dollars in Pentagon spending away from elaborate weapons toward programs more likely to benefit troops in today’s wars.

…The effort to pare back weapons programs that Gates derided as “truly in the exquisite category” reflects a growing recognition in the Pentagon that the days of soaring defense budgets are over. And it highlights Gates’s long-stated desire to increase spending on surveillance systems and other relatively low-tech weapons that are best suited for guerrilla or irregular war, which has traditionally been an industry backwater. “I’m just trying to get the irregular guys to have a seat at the table and to institutionalize some of the needs they have,” he said.

…Among the weapons taking the biggest hits are the Navy’s DDG 1000 destroyer, a stealthy ship whose cost has ballooned over the past decade. The Navy will purchase only three of the advanced ships and then revert to building the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers that have been a mainstay of the fleet for years.

Gates recommended halting production of the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jet at 187 planes — four more than the current number — and killing the new presidential helicopter program.

Defense procurement procedures are typically riddled with wasteful spending.  Gates’ biggest foe in taming this beast will be Congress.  Congress critters benefit greatly by spending your tax dollars on systems developed in their home district, regardless of whether those systems provide any kind of strategic asset.  For instance, Joe Lieberman whined that halting the production of the F-22, “would result in the loss of thousands of jobs in Connecticut.” And he’s not the only one. But who cares?  Our defense budget exists to defend America, not redistribute the workforce.  I applaud Gates for taking on this establishment.

All aspects of our government need to be cut, and that includes defense.  Wasteful boondoggles like the F-22 need to be stopped when they balloon out of control.  That’s never happened in the past, but perhaps it will start happening now.  We also need to reassess our commitments around the world and ask just whether we really need to expend so many resources defending other countries that are perfectly capable of defending themselves.  I’m looking at you, Europe.

All that being said, it’s very unfortunate that defense is the only thing Obama can bring himself to cut.  In fact, he is doing to opposite in most cases as he massively expands spending nearly across the board, when he should be doing the same for domestic spending as he is on defense.

Barack Obama defense spending Joe Lieberman Robert Gates