Is Sequestration A Disaster For The Pentagon?

Best Case For Sequester Is Still Disaster, Top Experts Say -- Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Breaking Defense

CAPITOL HILL: The best case for sequester is still a disaster – but we’re not going to get the best case. That’s the common denominator from a range of budget options rolled out today by an extraordinary alliance of four thinktanks.

Their consensus recommendations to cut military readiness, Army brigades, Navy carriers, Air Force ICBMs, and an array of aircraft – including, in three of the four groups’ proposals, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter – came from a kind of fiscal wargame. The simulation was developed by the influential Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments to explore alternative ways to implement approximately $500 billion in cuts to defense spending over the next 10 years. [Click here for detailed slides]. The subtle sting: They arrived at their dire conclusions based on what CSBA budget expert Todd Harrison admitted were “some very generous assumptions.”

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My Comment: I have confidence that the U.S. military will adapt. But this transition period is going to be tough .... and I expect even tougher as more sequestration cuts come into play in the next few years.