McFeatters - When it Comes to Spending, What Does the Military Know, Anyway?
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale McFeatters-
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff say the military does not want or need a missile-defense base on the East Coast.
According to the Associated Press, Gen. Charles Jacoby Jr., head of the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, told Congress: “Today’s threats do not require an East Coast missile field, and we do not have plans to do so.”
As far as the GOP-dominated House Armed Services Committee is concerned, what does Jacoby know?
The “threats” are ostensibly from North Korea, which has been unable to develop successful long-range missiles, and Iran, which has missiles that work – some of the time – and may even be able to reliably reach the East Coast. The Iranians may be goofy, but they’re not suicidally crazy enough to risk the catastrophic destruction that would follow in retribution.
And our missile defense is still a work in progress and of questionable reliability.
Nonetheless, the committee included $5 billion to start work on an East Coast defense site – but that’s only a down payment on very large expenses to come. The Pentagon has already spent nearly $150 billion on missile defense and, even without the added burden of an East Coast site, plans on spending another $4 billion over the next five years.
The committee also brushed aside other Pentagon plans for saving money – another round of base closings, retiring four aging Navy cruisers and surplus aircraft, and mothballing 18 Air Force drones.
The entire defense package is $642 billion, $8 billion more than what the Obama administration and House Republicans agreed to last summer.
Congressional Republicans’ new thriftiness is off to an expensive, even wasteful, start.[[In-content Ad]]
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff say the military does not want or need a missile-defense base on the East Coast.
According to the Associated Press, Gen. Charles Jacoby Jr., head of the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, told Congress: “Today’s threats do not require an East Coast missile field, and we do not have plans to do so.”
As far as the GOP-dominated House Armed Services Committee is concerned, what does Jacoby know?
The “threats” are ostensibly from North Korea, which has been unable to develop successful long-range missiles, and Iran, which has missiles that work – some of the time – and may even be able to reliably reach the East Coast. The Iranians may be goofy, but they’re not suicidally crazy enough to risk the catastrophic destruction that would follow in retribution.
And our missile defense is still a work in progress and of questionable reliability.
Nonetheless, the committee included $5 billion to start work on an East Coast defense site – but that’s only a down payment on very large expenses to come. The Pentagon has already spent nearly $150 billion on missile defense and, even without the added burden of an East Coast site, plans on spending another $4 billion over the next five years.
The committee also brushed aside other Pentagon plans for saving money – another round of base closings, retiring four aging Navy cruisers and surplus aircraft, and mothballing 18 Air Force drones.
The entire defense package is $642 billion, $8 billion more than what the Obama administration and House Republicans agreed to last summer.
Congressional Republicans’ new thriftiness is off to an expensive, even wasteful, start.[[In-content Ad]]
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