It's all about the 2012 election.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Insider

Some insiders just see empty threats. The super committee is buying time for politicians to get through next year's elections so they can convince voters that they are serious about tackling the debt, says John M. Simmons, a senior adviser at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C.

"This is all about the 2012 election," he says.

What about sequestration? "I don't believe it's ever going to happen," says Simmons. There is no plausible scenario under which the Pentagon would be able to cut $600 billion on short notice, he says. It would be the fiscal equivalent of trying to stop a freight train on a dime.

Simmons says the panel should help the Pentagon pare back on wasteful spending by proposing another round of base closures. Despite being political footballs, BRAC rounds in the end save the government...