Are Pentagon's Fears Of Budget Cuts Justified?

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta sent a letter Monday to Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham that outlined potentially “devastating” cuts he contended would be necessary if sequestration occurred. Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call

Pentagon Ratchets Up Warning Against Spending Cuts, But Some Analysts Call Is Nonsense -- Washington Post

WASHINGTON — What are taxpayers supposed to think? The Pentagon says threatened budget cuts will invite aggression, endanger national security and devastate its operations.

Though that view has plenty of adherents, there also are plenty of naysayers who call the Defense Department’s predictions a scare tactic by bureaucrats desperate to protect their turf.

“This is palpable nonsense ... the idea that somehow or another this is going to be Armageddon,” said Lawrence Korb, a former assistant defense secretary who is a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

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More News On Impending U.S. Defense Budget Cuts

Panetta outlines effects of deeper US defense cuts -- AFP
F-35 to LCS at Risk Says Panetta -- Defense Tech
Panetta: More Budget Cuts Could End Joint Strike Fighter, Land-Based ICBMs -- ABC News
Panetta: Budget Sequester Could Force Elimination of ICBMs -- Global Security Newswire
Panetta Says Budget Cuts May Kill Lockheed’s F-35 Jet -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Defense cuts could 'devastate' military -- UPI
Panetta Arms Foes of Cuts to Defense -- Roll Call
Panetta Goes Nuclear on Budget Talks -- FOX News
Panetta Tells Senators Sequestration Would Devastate DOD -- US Department of Defense
Panetta Details Budget Doomsday For Congress -- Aviation Week
Budget sequesters looming: who’ll be at risk? -- MSNBC
Ballistic missile submarine program would be delayed if Congress can't agree on spending cuts -- Daily Press
Defense cuts hurt U.S. in long run -- Politico
Pouring more money into the military is not a solution -- Danielle Brian, The Hill
Military Budget Cuts Will Get Us All Nuked, and 4 Other Lies -- Danger Room
Ten Things to Know About the Coming Defense Cuts -- Mark Thompson, Time
Leon Panetta Warns Against Budget Cuts Despite Reported Pentagon Spending Spree -- David Wood, Huffington Post