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Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 12:22:57 -0500
To: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
From: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
Subject: Battle brings out 'pork-barrel politics'
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<p>
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 11:32:31 -0800
To: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
From: David Theroux <<a href="mailto:DTheroux@independent.org">DTheroux@independent.org</a>>
Subject: Hello
<p>
Dear Matt,
<p>
You might find the following new WorldNetDaily article based on our
work of some interest.
<p>
Best regards,
<p>
David
<p>
David J. Theroux
Founder and President
The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621-1428
510-632-1366 Phone
510-568-6040 Fax
<a href="mailto:DTheroux@independent.org">DTheroux@independent.org</a>
<a href="http://www.independent.org">http://www.independent.org</a>
<p>
To view the entire article, visit
<<a href="http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25265>">http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25265></a>
<p>
Friday, November 9, 2001
<hr>
Battle brings out 'pork-barrel politics'
By Jon Dougherty
<hr>
<p>
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
<p>
A leading independent think tank has concluded that despite a
declaration by the Bush administration that the so-called "war on
terror" is different from previous conflicts, the
"military-industrial-congressional complex" has done little to change
the way the Pentagon acquires its weapons systems.
<p>
"This business-as-usual response to the U.S. military campaign in
Afghanistan is the predictable result of politically driven,
special-interest policies," says economic historian Robert Higgs,
senior fellow at the <<a href="http://www.independent.org>Independent">http://www.independent.org>Independent</a>
Institute.
<p>
Simply put, economic experts at the institute believe the government
is still wasting far too much taxpayer money by not demanding more
for every dollar spent by the Pentagon. And Congress, Higgs says, is
definitely a co-conspirator.
<p>
"In examining congressional oversight of the defense program, it is
easy to fall prey into thinking that Congress is the mischief maker
and the Pentagon the long-suffering soldier just trying to do his
job," Higgs wrote in the fall issue of The Independent Review, a
magazine published quarterly by the organization. "In fact, the
military departments are no less culpable than Congress. Defense
Department decision makers are as self-interested as others involved
in the defense program."
<p>
Higgs says pressure from defense contractors coupled with the typical
bureaucracy of the Defense Department and politicians "beholden to
the military-industrial-congressional complex" is turning the war
between "the U.S. and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network into a more
traditional exercise in pork-barrel politics."
<p>
Titled, "The Cold War is Over, But U.S. Preparation for it
Continues," Higgs' article notes, "If you are the Pentagon czar,
intent on managing the DOD (Department of Defense) exclusively with
an eye to the optimal employment of its budget in the service of
maximizing national security … [h]ow likely is it that despite the
countless changes in specific threats, technologies, resource costs
and military experience, you would ever have occasion to change the
interservice distribution of total resources by more than a trivial
amount?"
<p>
The article also quotes former Air Force chief Gen. James P. Mullins,
who, in 1986, said the U.S. is "still living in the past in the area
of weapons procurement and support. … We don't do things differently
today. We do them just like we did decades ago – in another day and
age."
<p>
"That statement remains valid today," Higgs said.
<p>
The economic historian also quoted Lawrence Korb, a former
high-ranking Defense official, who said that "getting the Pentagon to
be more businesslike could save about $100 billion over the next five
years." However, Higgs said, "what incentive exists today to elicit
businesslike behavior from a vast bureaucracy fueled by taxpayer
money and accountable to neither customers nor shareholders?"
<p>
Prior to launching the war against terrorism, the Bush administration
had asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to review the current
weapons systems in development by U.S. contractors and compare them
to threats analysts perceived would face the nation in the next
several decades.
<p>
Some analysts inside the Pentagon advocated eliminating the
construction of new aircraft carriers, as well as a few of the most
advanced fighter programs and main battle tanks. In the end, however,
Rumsfeld did not agree with those recommendations.
<p>
That decision did not surprise Higgs, mostly because lawmakers did
little to challenge it. "As a rule … the actual objective of
congressional actions is the re-election of incumbents, and if viewed
in that perspective, those actions make good sense," Higgs wrote. "In
countless ways, big and small, members of Congress treat the defense
budget as a slush fund used for winning the favor of constituents and
others whose support would improve members' re-election prospects."
<p>
"This concern for the public-works aspect of the budget … often
leaves the Congress unable or unwilling to make hard choices on
defense issues, particularly on issues with large dollar
implications," Richard Stubbing, a longtime defense analyst at the
Office of Management and Budget, was quoted as saying in the article.
<p>
The Bush administration is requesting $343.2 billion for the Pentagon
in Fiscal Year 2002 – an increase of more than $32 billion over
current levels and a figure that includes the $14.3 billion for the
Energy Department's defense functions.
<p>
In September, the <<a href="http://www.cdi.org>Center">http://www.cdi.org>Center</a> for Defense Information
released a report entitled, "Reforging the Sword: Forces for a 21st
Century Security Strategy." Written by defense analysts Col. Dan
Smith, USA (Ret.), Marcus Corbin and Christopher Hellman, it
"proposes an alternative U.S. military force for the first quarter"
of the new century.
<p>
"The force is designed to execute a new international security
strategy that attempts to respond to the challenges of a changing
world and also shape what that world will look like in 2025," the
authors wrote.
<p>
Principally, the report notes that "the U.S. military will face new
military scenarios and new forms of warfare in the next quarter
century, yet change in strategy and forces has been slow."
<p>
"Reshaping of the military to respond to the changing face of warfare
needs to be accelerated," the authors assert.
<p>
In trying to create this new force, the CDI analysts say that, "from
the perspective of soldiers on the front line and the taxpayer, the
defense industry is not performing well." Weapon systems are taking a
full "human generation" to develop, the authors said, which
ultimately adds to their cost and could put them out of their useful
cycle before they are ever deployed.
<p>
"Each new weapon is doubling or tripling the cost of its
predecessor," said the report, adding that it's "difficult to change
or stop programs once they get started, regardless of what has
happened elsewhere in the world."
<p>
The authors have proposed a "smaller, albeit transformed, U.S.
military force" that – after an initial period of regular budget
increases to fund the transformation – would eventually eat up less
of the federal budget. The total figure "would be somewhat lower than
today," the authors wrote.
<p>
In the end, the analysts believe the defense budget could be "15-20
percent below Fiscal Year 2001 levels. …"
<p>
In terms of real defense expenditures this year, and in comparison to
other nations, the requested Pentagon budget is six times higher than
Russia, though Moscow is second in the world in terms of military
expenditures, the CDI said.
<p>
The Pentagon's budget is also more than 23 times as large as the
combined spending of the seven countries traditionally identified by
the Pentagon as our most likely adversaries – Cuba, Iran, Iraq,
Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. And it is more than the military
spending of the next 15 highest-spending nations combined.
<p>
<p>
<<a href="mailto:mailto:jdougherty@worldnetdaily.com">mailto:jdougherty@worldnetdaily.com</a>>Jon E. Dougherty is a staff
reporter and columnist for WorldNetDaily, and author of the special
report, <>"Election 2000: How the Military Vote Was Suppressed."
<p>
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