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We should be getting the final round of specifics from the Pentagon about what programs and platforms and systems and operations are funded at what level for fiscal 2010 in the next day or so. Already Secretary Bob Gates has announced what he’s putting on the chopping block; these are the budget totals for everything else. Winslow Wheeler, who spent decades on the Hill working on defense reform for both parties, has a Politico op-ed arguing that every reformist oasis the budget promises is a mirage.
Crossposted to The Streak.
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When you read the news articles later this week on the defense budget, consider it all an opportunity to assess the competence of journalism in the U.S. these days.
Gotta love that. The last line of his piece. Sadly, it is not new to us on the left.
[Emphasis mine]
Bull.
The State Department is not a subsidiary of the Defense Department. If you want to qualify that as Foreign Policy expenses, fine. But calling the entire State Department budget a ‘generic defense expense’ is nuts. (Caveat: I am speaking for myself here).
Foreign Military aid via the civilian programs runs at about $5B annually. with the Iraq/Afghanistan Security Funds coming to about $9B dollars in 2008 but those are already in the DoD Greenbook. That’s not accounting for economic aid because it’s economic aid. That’s a classical civilian tool of foreign policy.
I think he was stretching to reach $1 trillion. To be perfectly clear, I think there’s an argument for most of what he’s saying and the initial $670B is uncontroversial. He also makes a fair point about the F-35. Homeland security is arguable, but counting the entire State Department budget is ridiculous.