rssSen. Webb: Defense Spending Shouldn’t Be ‘Sacrosanct’
Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 11:09 am
- 8 Comments
The only one on the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning who says the defense budget should be on the table for President Obama’s spending freeze is a former Navy secretary — Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.). Saying that there’s no reason military spending should be “sacrosanct,” Webb urged Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen to “take a hard look at programs that don’t produce a clear bottom line.”
Webb shot out three programs. First, he questioned the wisdom of giving $60 million to Blackwater to train sailors in self-defense on board ships — or, as Webb put it, “how to do their job.” He attacked sending military officers to defense think tanks to serve as fellows, specifically calling out the well-connected Center for a New American Security, which has sent a lot of its own analysts to the Obama State and Defense Departments. “The American taxpayer is funding think tanks that don’t really produce any added value to the Department of Defense,” Webb said. Finally, Webb called out the Pentagon’s “mentorship” program — recently the subject of a USA Today investigative report — that basically allows retired officers who serve in many cases on defense contractor boards to still get Pentagon cash for advising active-duty officers.
Gates deflected Webb’s criticism, saying merely, “We will certainly continue to look at these things.” He defended the mentorship program, but said vaguely to expect “fairly dramatic changes” to its administration, thanks to a study by Deputy Secretary William Lynn.
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Comment posted February 2, 2010 @ 12:15 pm
Good for Webb. It would behoove Gates to listen to him.
Comment posted February 2, 2010 @ 6:59 pm
Sigh. I really don't understand how Webb can be so right on some things (like here) and then so wrong on others (like HCR).
Comment posted February 2, 2010 @ 11:59 pm
Sigh. I really don't understand how Webb can be so right on some things (like here) and then so wrong on others (like HCR).
Pingback posted February 3, 2010 @ 4:34 pm
[...] Secretary of the Navy, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), stated that defense spending should not be “sacrosanct.” Unfortunately, the QDR fails to set the path toward fiscal sanity. As the Washington [...]
Pingback posted February 3, 2010 @ 9:01 pm
[...] Jim Webb, who is also on the Armed Services Committee, adds his voice to the chorus of people calling for the defense budget to be included in a spending freeze. Saying that there’s no reason military spending should be “sacrosanct,” Webb [...]
Pingback posted February 4, 2010 @ 1:26 am
[...] Senator Jim Webb did just that on Tuesday at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Webb, one of 25 Senators to serve in the [...]
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