The Hill News

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s Chicken Little protestations that the sky will fall if there are further cuts to the Pentagon’s $700 billion budget are fantastically disappointing. His remarks that cuts will endanger troops and invite foreign aggression are fear mongering of the worst kind.
 
Multiple military leaders have themselves acknowledged that the current national security budget, even accounting for recent promises of cuts and “efficiencies,” includes a wish list of extravagant and overpriced weapons and services.
 
Over 10 years, replacing two of three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with the less expensive and proven F/A-18 E/F’s could save $44 billion; not renewing the procurement contract for the troubled V-22 Osprey could save $12 billion. And those are just two cuts that could save taxpayers billions without putting American lives at risk.
 

Read more...