SEQUESTER signed into law: Defense leaders discuss possible effects of extensive budget cuts

  • Published
  • By xxxJim Garamone and Karen Parrish
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON --  Army and Marine training, Air Force flying hours and Navy steaming days are being curtailed thanks to the $47 billion in cuts the Department of Defense must make before Sept. 30, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said March 1.

The secretary stressed at the start of his first press conference as Defense Secretary the uncertainty caused by sequestration "puts at risk our ability to effectively fulfill all of our missions."

He was joined by Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and both men said if sequestration is allowed to continue through the end of the fiscal year, the effects will become much worse.

The department will continue to adjust to the fiscal realities, Hagel said. He and Carter had just met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Tank - the chiefs' secure conference room - to speak about the consequences of sequestration.

"Leadership in the Pentagon ... [has] two serious concerns: first, the abrupt and arbitrary cuts imposed by sequester; and second, the lack of budget management flexibility that we now face under the current continuing resolution," Hagel said.

The department already had to cut funding for readiness, he said. "As sequester continues, we will be forced to assume more risk, with steps that will progressively have far-reaching effects," the secretary said.

Starting in April, the Navy will gradually stand down at least four air wings, he said.
"Effective immediately, Air Force flying hours will be cut back," Hagel said. "This will have a major impact on training and readiness."

The Army will curtail training for all units except those deploying to Afghanistan, he said, noting that this means an end to training for nearly 80 percent of Army operational units.
"Later this month, we intend to issue preliminary notifications to thousands of civilian employees who will be furloughed," Hagel said. The department has about 800,000 civilian employees and the vast majority of them face losing 20 percent of their pay through the end of September.

Sequestration comes on top of $487 billion in cuts defense agreed to under the Budget Control Act.

In anticipation of sequester, in January the department began to slow spending. The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman did not deploy to the Persian Gulf as scheduled, and the department looked to hiring freezes and layoffs of temporary and term employees. The service chiefs announced cuts to facilities maintenance and contract delays.
"If sequester continues and the continuing resolution is extended in its current form, other damaging effects will become apparent," Hagel said. "Our number one concern is our people - military and civilian - the millions of men and women of this department who work very hard every day to ensure America's security."

The department needs some fiscal certainty, the secretary said, and DoD leaders will continue to work with Congress to help resolve this uncertainty.

"Specifically, we need a balanced deficit reduction plan that leads to an end to sequestration," he said. "And we need Congress to pass appropriations bills for DoD and all federal agencies."

The senior officers from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force asked Congress Tuesday for more spending flexibility, so they can maintain military readiness as the sequester's across-the-board budget cuts take effect.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh testified about 2013 military construction before the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Military Construction and Veteran Affairs.

Odierno told committee members sequester and the continuing resolution, combined, threaten "grave and immediate impacts" to Army readiness that could extend well beyond this year.

The continuing resolution prohibits new starts to military construction projects. "Until the Army receives an appropriations measure with new start authority, we cannot initiate 102 military construction projects that are scheduled for award in 35 states," Odierno said.
He said sequester cuts will translate into about 100,000 facility work orders per month that will not be done, "Which places the Army on a slippery slope where our buildings will fail faster than we can fix them."

All restoration and modernization projects for fiscal 2013 will be deferred, Odierno said, and 251,000 civilian employees will be furloughed.

"Sequestration will force us to reduce resources for our schools, our day care centers, and every one of our family assistance and community service programs that rely upon the installation's infrastructure to provide services," he noted.

Greenert said the continuing resolution poses challenges for the Navy because it holds spending at 2012 levels.

"But this fiscal year, we are implementing a new defense strategy, and that emphasizes readiness over capacity," he noted. "So as a result, we currently have about $3.7 billion more in our investment accounts than we requested, and we currently have $4.6 billion less in our operations accounts than we requested."

That means the Navy is "out of balance," he said, "and this unbalance is made worse in our operations account because of sequestration."

The Navy is now reducing its presence in every theater and halting training for next year's deployments, Greenert said. If Congress passes an authorizations bill or new continuing resolution that allows the services to move money between accounts, he said, the Navy "would first be able to restore the training and maintenance and [also] keep a carrier strike group and an amphibious ready group in the Middle East and the Pacific through next fiscal year."

Amos said all the Marine Corps' 37 military construction projects planned for fiscal 2013 and totaling $716 million are halted.

"Additionally, we have been forced to halt construction plans on hangars for the F-35 [Lightning II] in Beaufort, S.C., as well as road improvements aboard our major installations designed to correct safety deficiencies," Amos said. "These projects are ready to begin today. Without ... appropriations or the authorities for new starts, we are forced to defer to future years' budget, causing a ripple effect which will no doubt significantly impact our modernization and our sustainment efforts."

Amos noted that in three rounds of recent congressional testimony, he'd "spoken about the combined effects of the existing continuing resolution and sequestration. These indiscriminate measures create unacceptable levels of risk - risk to our national security, risk to our forces, risk to the American people, and risk to the United States of America.

Welsh said the Air Force faces similar budget-based problems as its sister services. Without congressional approval for military construction starts, he said, Airmen and their families "will experience delays to improvements for substandard dormitories and housing. Flight simulators and maintenance facility construction delays will magnify readiness degradations that are already unacceptable."

The services need the flexibility to put dollars where they're most needed, Welsh said.
"We find ourselves stuck in the unenviable trade-space between modernization and readiness, with infrastructure improvement delays and deferments amplifying the impacts to each," he added.