Hagel: Pentagon Prepared to Make ‘Big Choices’ to Reduce Spending

“Current military budgets do not distinguish between ‘needs and wants,’ Benjamin Friedman, a national security analyst at the Cato Institute said at a recent conference hosted by the Project on Defense Alternatives. A reexamination of the military structure has been long overdue, said retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor. During World War II, he said, the U.S. military had eight four-star generals and admirals leading a force of more than 15 million personnel. Today, there are 38 four-stars leading an active-duty force of 1.4 million. What is needed today, he said, is not only to cut spending but also to develop a coherent national security strategy, which has not been done since 1989. Gordon Adams, a professor of national security at American University and a former budget official during the Clinton administration, has blasted the Pentagon for living in denial about the coming defense drawdown.”