Excerpts
SUMMARY: Judy Woodruff interviews Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey at the Pentagon about the escalating risks of the Ukraine crisis, finding a balance between budget reduction and military readiness, the uncertain future of the United States in Afghanistan and the increase of sexual assaults and misconduct within the armed forces.
---
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Well, speaking of the budget, the administration announced just — and the Pentagon announced just a few days ago that there’s going to be a — or that you would like to have a downsizing of materiel and troops back to a size that we haven’t seen since before World War II.
Because of what’s going on right now in Eastern Europe, any second thoughts about that?
GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY: Well, I’m not sure that if we had a million-man Army, that it would make — would have made any difference in the Russian calculation to enter the — to enter Ukraine.
But, that said, we do have an obligation to deter conflict and to prepare for it should it occur. And we are reaching a point, because not only the depth of the budget reductions, but also the mechanism, the draconian way it’s applied, where we really can’t move money around or balance the budget in any responsible way, that is affecting our readiness.
So, if you’re asking me, you know, does this increase the urgency with which I articulate the risks that we are beginning to accrue, sure, it does.
No comments:
Post a Comment