U.S. Department of Defense: Trump, Mattis Hail Spending Bill to Fund Strongest Military Ever
WASHINGTON, March 23, 2018 — The $1.3 trillion spending bill President Donald J. Trump signed today includes the largest military budget in history, reversing years of decline and unpredictable funding, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said at the White House.
“Together, we are going to make our military stronger than ever,” Mattis said in a news conference today, flanked by Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross, and Department of Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
“We in the military are humbled and grateful to the American people for their sacrifices on behalf of this funding,” Mattis said. “Now it's our responsibility in the military to spend every dollar wisely in order to keep the trust and the confidence of the American people and the Congress.”
Trump hailed the spending measure, saying it funds the strongest military in the world, as well as troop increases and the largest pay raise in more than a decade for service members.
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WNU Editor: Here is what they are getting .... Trump touted his colossal spending bill as a blessing for the military. Here's what the Pentagon is getting (CNBC).
7 comments:
Is it wise to spell out what the military money is going to be spent on?
Fred,
Good question. The military has often been accused of being "unauditablle." What this essentially means is we can't tell what the money is being spent on. The criticism directed at the Pentagon has generally been brutal in this regard.
What I think the critics need to realize is it may not always be wise to be open about where the money is being spent as we don't want our enemies to know. On the other hand, the taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent.
I don't really have a good answer to your question other than to suggest a saner foreign policy would be a huge help and might even solve the problem. I've already suggested what a saner foreign policy would look like. Other than to say studying the models of countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and trying to emulate them would be an excellent place to start. I have neither the time nor the patience to replow that ground on this thread.
In summary, with regards to military spending, to disclose or not disclose how the funds are spent or to not disclose how the funds are being spent? I think essentially we walk a tightrope. In walking this tightrope, the leadership needs to err on the side of what enhances American national defense. We the people must hope and pray they get this right.
Now, as stated, a more realistic foreign policy would make answering this question easier but it is NOT an easy question. Time permitting I will add more later.
There is stuff you can reveal and should and stuff that you cannot. It depends at which stage of development something is at, what the technology is, etc. Merely saying you are going to build something shows determination but usually does not give away the tech by mere mention of its name.
You got to remember that there will be leakers from Congress (Leaky Leahy; Senator Depends") and from inside the executive branch. There is probably always one Democrat (if not more) in the intelligence or armed services committees leaking live sieve.
You are sure to have some McCabe types in the DoD. They will lie away their lies and leaks as "inaccuracies" and blame it on "confusion and distraction".
If you have gangsters like Clapper and Brennan lying through their teeth and leaking in the intelligence community and
have the Comey's and McCabe's lying thought their teeth and leaking in the FBI,
There are sure to be some gangsters in the DoD, who would lie and leak.
"Leahy Discloses He Quit Panel Over His Own Leak" LA Times
"Leaky Leahy Seeks Sensitive Info Again"
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-24/mccabe-comes-clean-blames-his-inaccuracies-confusion-distraction
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-29/news/mn-4415_1_patrick-j-leahy
https://www.heritage.org/commentary/leaky-leahy-seeks-sensitive-info-again
and did you forget Trump, who leeked Israeli secrets to Russians? oh, but he is favored so that one does not count
I am sure he 'leeked' no Israeli secrets.
We don't even know what he "leaked" if anything. We don't know what, who, or how. His team denies the leaking of anything. His opponents say something was leaked. Who do we believe? Given the track record of the opponents I'm inclined to believe team Trump.
Since the opposition has yet to provide any evidence to back up such claims, are we to take them as an article of faith? I've learned to take everything my government tells me with extreme skepticism. Furthermore given the track record of the critics it is even more problematic to take them at face value.
Given that thus far DJT has had Israel's back in ways that no president has in living memory to date in his Administration, it seems less unlikely he'd leak information that would undermine Israel. This further discredits DJT's opponents. We are essentially left with info was leaked "because we said so."
I'm sorry. The actions of team Trump aren't consistent with the claim and the accusers have major credibility issues. In the absence of evidence to back up the claim and the nature of the sources, the claim is dismissed as the utter nonsense it likely is.
As I recall, they were discussing aviation security. If the US had sources, methods, or techniques here that would have been able to help them defend against such threats and did not share no matter how "classified" it might be, this would have been an immoral act. No one of good conscience could have withheld this information from them. Of course the levels of moral depravity of some knows no bounds.
Fred,
The media hypocrisy over Trump’s intelligence leak
Everything you 'nead' to know about 'leeking'.
http://www.aei.org/publication/the-media-hypocrisy-over-trumps-intelligence-leak/
Come to Wisconsin and you can get some cheese to go with your whine.
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