海角大神

In his first major policy speech Wednesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel signaled he will be taking a hard look at the way the Pentagon spends its money and at whether the US military needs quite so many officers.

He also said that while the US military 鈥渞emains an essential tool of American power,鈥� it is also 鈥渙ne that must be used judiciously, with a keen appreciation of its limits.鈥�

Speaking at the National Defense University in Washington, Secretary Hagel invoked the memory of President Dwight Eisenhower, who came up as a young officer in the wake of the Great Depression. He noted that the World War II general spoke at the same university 50 years ago.

鈥淭he wise and prudent administration of the vast resources required by defense calls for extraordinary skill in meshing the military, political, economic, and social machinery of our modern life,鈥� Hagel said, quoting Eisenhower. 鈥淪o the greatest effective use is made of resources with a minimum of waste and misapplication.鈥澨�
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Now that the 鈥済usher鈥� of war-time military spending is turned off, Hagel said, top Pentagon officials will be taking a hard look at some key spending areas.
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This speech signaled precisely what those areas will be: acquisitions, personnel costs, and overhead.

鈥淟eft unchecked, spiraling costs to sustain existing structures and institutions, provide benefits to personnel, and develop replacements for aging weapons platforms will eventually crowd out spending on procurement, operations, and readiness 颅鈥� the budget categories that enable the military to be and stay prepared,鈥� Hagel warned.

This will mean taking a hard look at Pentagon employees, including 鈥渉ow many people we have 鈥� military and civilian 鈥� how many we need, what these people do, and how we compensate them for their work, service, and loyalty with pay, benefits and health care.鈥澨�

This will in turn prompt 鈥渢ough questions,鈥� Hagel concedes, including "what is the right mix of civilians and military, and whether the force has the right balance of officers and enlisted.鈥�

Much of the DOD鈥檚 organizational chart dates back 鈥渢o the early days of the Cold War,鈥� Hagel said, noting that the last major defense reorganization was drafted during the height of the Reagan defense buildup.

While the military 鈥渋s not, and never should be, run like a corporation,鈥� Hagel noted, there is a danger that the DOD could go from 鈥渁n agency protecting the nation to an agency administering benefit programs, capable of buying only limited quantities of irrelevant and overpriced equipment.鈥�

That鈥檚 because too often the weapons systems that Pentagon officials buy 鈥渁re vastly more expensive and technologically risky than what was promised or budgeted for.鈥� And the hard truth is that the most pressing problems the world faces 鈥渄o not necessarily lend themselves to being resolved by conventional military strength,鈥� he said.

鈥淚ndeed the most destructive and horrific attack ever on the United States came not from fleets of ships, bombers, and armored divisions, but from 19 fanatical men wielding box cutters and one-way plane tickets."