Scary Stuff

Three items from the Usual USAF Source that should concern every American... the first is from this past Tuesday:

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.)

Gutting US Military Capability: The Air Force is flying "at the ragged edge." The Marine Corps is not equipped to handle a contingency if it were to arise in the Pacific theater. And, the Army doesn't even have enough resources to fulfill some of its "most basic needs," warned Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), House Armed Services Committee chairman Monday. "These problems will rapidly intensify as projected budget cuts start to take their toll," said McKeon during a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. "Even more dangerous is the sword that is hanging over the Congressional super committee," he added. The newly formed committee has until Thanksgiving to come up with $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in savings or an automatic cut will kick in that will decimate the US military, said McKeon. "Fifty percent of the mandatory cuts associated with the [automatic] trigger are from the Defense Department. Fifty percent. That's a deeply unbalanced number with defense accounting for less than 20 percent of federal spending," he said. "If enacted, the trigger would not just cut our military, it would close it for business."

—Amy McCullough

And these two items from yesterday's AFA Daily Report:

Carter Goes Before SASC to Discuss Nomination: Ash Carter, current Pentagon acquisition executive, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday he'd be willing to consider relocating and re-stationing overseas-based US military forces, including moving some back the United States, if he becomes deputy defense secretary. This would include addressing the proposed realignment of US troops on Guam and Okinawa, Japan, he told committee members during his nomination hearing for the Pentagon's No. 2 post. He also said he'd work with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to find across-the-board savings for the Defense Department, including potential cuts to military personnel accounts and healthcare. Carter said the Pentagon would submit a plan to Congress this year outlining areas where DOD could absorb cuts so that the new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction could take it under advisement. If that panel fails to reach a consensus and, instead, the Budget Control Act of 2011's automatic cuts kick in, Carter said those cuts would "devastate" the military. "Just the scale of it alone would lead us to have to consider truly draconian things—abandoning major weapons systems, furloughing civilian employees, and abruptly curtailing training because we couldn't pay for fuel, and so forth," he explained. (See also Carter's response to advance questions.)

Passionate about Defense: The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said the fiscal situation faced by the Defense Department is so dire that he may even consider voting for a tax increase for the first time in his political career. "I have never voted for a tax increase. I don't ever plan on voting for a tax increase," Rep. Buck McKeon (Calif.) told an audience during his speech Monday at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. "But if it came down that I had only two choices: one was to make a tax increase, one was to cut defense over and above what we already are, I would go to strengthen defense." The six Republicans on the new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction likely will press for cuts and stand against a tax increase, while the six Democrats on the panel likely will argue that one is not possible without the other. The challenge will be reaching a compromise before the automatic cuts outlined in the Budget Control Act of 2011 kick in and the Pentagon's budget is slashed beyond repair, said McKeon. (See also the joint committee's new website.)

—Amy McCullough

I don't think Rep. McKeon or Mr. Carter are being the least bit hyperbolic with their statements.  It is to worry, especially now that Obama wants the Joint Select Committee to fund his latest round of Stimu-less.   "Interesting times," as the frickin' Chinese say.