Small Wars Journal

Service Chiefs Agree—Defense Cuts Put American Lives at Risk

Fri, 01/30/2015 - 1:25pm

Service Chiefs Agree—Defense Cuts Put American Lives at Risk by David Adesnik, Foreign Policy Initiative

On January 28, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on the national security impact of sequestration and the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA). The chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps all testified. They delivered the sobering message that sequestration has undermined their ability to execute the missions assigned to them by the national defense strategy and that “Americans’ lives are being put at risk” by these senseless cuts.  

Next week, President Obama is expected to submit to Congress his budget request for Fiscal Year 2016. The Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) believes that the following excerpts from the hearing will help to inform lawmakers and their staff as they consider the president’s budget request and what resources are needed to address the growing challenges to our national security…

Read on.