Clashing views on how to control U.S. debt.

AuthorErwin, Sandra I.
PositionDefense Insider

* Pro-defense GOP lawmakers remain unconvinced that any cuts are justified. They blame the $1.4 trillion federal deficit on domestic social program and entitlements, and don't believe that defense should be penalized too severely. Many Democrats and deficit-hawk Republicans, meanwhile, seem to fret about how they can possibly cast votes that make tradeoffs between defense spending and debt reduction in the absence of broad strategic guidance.

Gordon Adams, professor of foreign policy at American University and a former White House budget official overseeing national security, contends that the Pentagon's annual budget of nearly $700 billion could be safely trimmed over the coming years by as much as 15 percent without in any way jeopardizing U.S. military dominance. The reason is that too much of the defense budget pays for unnecessary programs, irrelevant missions and bloated bureaucracies that don't contribute to the nation's security.

Because the United States overspends on defense, he argues, the military has...

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