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Sec. Panetta: Look Beyond Pentagon for Budget Cuts

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DoD photo: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jacob N. Bailey

Congress must look beyond cutting the Defense Department’s budget in trying to attain fiscal responsibility, Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday.

Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with students at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington. Frank Sesno, former CNN correspondent, moderated the discussion.

Both the Defense and State Departments face budget cuts as a result of the debt ceiling compromise Aug. 2.

According to AFPS, Panetta said the Pentagon can handle the $350 million savings mandated in the debt deal. If Congress can not agree on further savings, the Pentagon faces a $500 billion cut.

“We recognize that we’re in a resource limitation here, and that we got to deal we’ve those challenges,” Panetta said. “But I don’t think you have to choose between our national security and fiscal responsibility.”

Panetta has previously warned against “hasty” cuts to the defense budget.

Click here to watch the full discussion at Fort McNair.

1 Comment

  1. While we celebrate the performance of the warriors in our various armed services we should never lose sight of the fact that for every warrior on the front lines there are many individuals behind him or her. This monstrous organization is a huge government bureacracy and bureaucrats wear uniforms as well as dark suits. Those of us having had first hand experience with the military – in my case proudly with The Marines – can readily testify to the waste and inefficiencies. Misguided patriotism should not cause us to lessen our critical scrutiny of government bureaucrats even if they have impressive outfits and speak darkly of national security.

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