Brigadier General William A. Bloomer
The Washington Times
My good friend Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, and his colleagues are right: U.S. military superiority is in jeopardy if Congress doesn’t overturn the automatic budget cuts scheduled to hit in less than a year (“Senate Republicans aim to ease defense cuts under sequestration,” Web, Thursday).
We simply can’t slash $1 trillion out of our defense budget without irreparably weakening our ability to defend America from future adversaries. Without congressional action, the unthinking budget ax of sequestration will slash a chunk out of every military program, no matter how essential it may be to national defense.
Absurdly, the budgets for fighter jets will be cut by the same amount as the budget for Pentagon paper clips.
We’ll cut funding for cybertechnology, including defenses that would prevent Iran from reprogramming our unmanned aircraft and diverting them to their own soil, as apparently occurred in December. We’ll reduce funding for surveillance systems, such as sensors that can alert troops to insurgent attacks in remote areas. And we’ll eviscerate funding for next-generation fighter jets, helicopters and Navy ships that would allow us to project strength around the globe on short notice – wherever it’s needed to defend American interests.
Sequestration will cripple our national defense. Both parties should unite to ensure it doesn’t occur.
Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/6/dangers-of-sequestration/
