DOD BUDGET - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's Proposed Budget Cuts

"How will proposed military savings affect strategy and security?" PBS Newshour 2/24/2014

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour):  Now: striking the balance between national security and budget reality.

CHUCK HAGEL, Secretary of Defense (news brief):  Good afternoon.

GWEN IFILL:  Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel laid out plans this afternoon to cut troops and close bases, reshaping the nation’s military after more than a decade of war.

CHUCK HAGEL:  We are repositioning to focus on the strategic challenges and opportunities that will define our future: new technologies, new centers of power, and a world that is growing more volatile, more unpredictable, and in some instances more threatening to the United States.

GWEN IFILL:  A key part of that repositioning, shrinking the Army from 522,000 active-duty soldiers to between 440,000-450,000, the fewest since World War II.

The Army National Guard would be reduced as well, but Hagel said it can be done without compromising national defense.

CHUCK HAGEL:  Our analysis showed that this force would be capable of decisively defeating aggression in one major combat theater — as it must be — while also defending the homeland and supporting air and naval forces engaged in another theater.

GWEN IFILL:  The budget also calls for eliminating the venerable A-10 Warthog aircraft, used for close air support of ground troops, and for replacing the iconic U-2 spy plane with a force of Global Hawk drones.

Among the other recommendations: increasing health insurance deductibles and co-pays for military families and retirees, reducing subsidies to military commissaries, and closing more military bases.

Hagel also proposes freezing salaries of generals and admirals and limiting pay raises for military personnel to 1 percent.  He said delaying such decisions actually hurts morale.

"‘Beloved’ A-10 Warthog aircraft may not survive Pentagon Attack" PBS Newshour 2/25/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The A-10 Warthog was designed specifically to fly in low and attack enemy forces, loitering over the battlefield.  But top Pentagon officials now say the Warthog's days are over.  The Defense Department plans to eliminate the entire fleet and save $3.5 billion over five years in order to save for newer and more capable aircraft.  Kwame Holman reports on the debate.

How the A-10 Warthog became 'the most survivable plane ever