Special operations wins out in budget proposal
Washington Post
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration plans to increase military spending by about $14 billion next year, a figure that White House officials say is in line with the president's pledge to build up the nation's armed forces, but that falls short of previous administration projections and what Pentagon officials had hoped for to sustain the war on terrorism and pay for new weapons.
Associated Press library photo
The budget plan, which will be presented to President Bush this week, would not eliminate any major new weapons that have been under scrutiny this year but would reduce purchases of a new Army helicopter and a new Air Force fighter jet and impose conditions on the Navy's construction of a new aircraft carrier. It would boost spending for programs that have proven valuable in the counterterrorism war — notably unmanned aerial vehicles and special operations.
The USS Enterprise steams to the southern end of it's operating area in the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon budget plan, to be presented to President Bush this week, imposes conditions on the Navy's construction of a new aircraft carrier.
The proposal would raise total defense spending to $378.5 billion next fiscal year from the $364.1 billion appropriated by Congress for fiscal 2003, which began Oct. 1. Although some Pentagon issues still need to be resolved, several senior officials involved in the budget process said the total amount was unlikely to change substantially.
The proposed increase is less than what the administration projected in February when it first presented its plan for defense spending. Officials attributed the drop to a lower-than-expected rate of inflation this year. The increase is described as essentially $10 billion to pay for programs and $4 billion to cover the cost of inflation.
Pentagon officials had sought an additional $10 billion for a contingency fund to finance operations arising from the war on terrorism. Congress rejected a similar request in the fiscal 2003 budget, regarding it as too much of a "blank check," and Bush's advisers want to drop the idea.
Bush, who still must approve the budget plan, has made clear his desire to keep national security a top budget priority. But pursuing this goal has become more complicated in the face of a growing federal budget deficit and political pressure to boost spending on education, Medicare prescription drug coverage and other social programs that will be crucial issues for the president as the country heads toward the 2004 election. Bush also has signaled a desire to propose another round of tax cuts.
White House officials have told nonsecurity agencies to expect budget increases of no more than 1 percent or 2 percent next year, compared with the 4 percent spending increase projected for defense.
Associated Press library photo
Administration officials said the budget would boost spending for many programs that military planners regard as critical to transforming the military into a more flexible, quick-reaction force. Defense analysts, however, said the failure to cancel some costly, long-running programs undermines this goal.
A CH-47 Chinook helicopter ferries soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division during operations in Afghanistan. Special Operations Command's $4.9 billion budget is expected to climb 20 percent in 2004. Some of that money will go toward refitted MH-47 Chinooks.
"What troubles me is that the administration still hasn't canceled more of the big defense projects," said Michael O'Hanlon, a military expert with the Brookings Institution. "The price of transformational change is just being added to the cost of previous plans, and that spells continuing budget pressure."
Bush took office pledging to accelerate transformation of the military from a Cold War force designed to battle the Soviet Union into a more agile force geared to fighting regional wars and terrorist networks. White House budget officials initially resisted a Pentagon request last year for a surge in spending but eventually agreed to a plan to go from $331 billion in 2002 to $451 billion in 2007 with the understanding the Defense Department would press ahead with significant reforms. The buildup would be the largest since the Reagan administration.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tapped close aide Stephen Cambone to review major weapons programs. Cambone, the Pentagon's director of program analysis and evaluation, recommended a number of program changes aimed, he has said, at better integrating the separate military services and placing emphasis on expanded communications, quicker intelligence gathering and more precision-guided munitions.
The proposed cuts would hit hardest within the Army, which had its new howitzer, the Crusader, canceled earlier this year. Last week, defense officials announced a postponement in funding for two of six proposed brigades for a new light-armored, wheeled vehicle called a Stryker.
Next year's plan would reduce purchases of the Army's new helicopter, the Comanche, by nearly 50 percent, from about 1,200 to 650, and would limit its role to reconnaissance missions, setting aside plans to give it a "deep attack" role as well.
The Navy has wanted to build two new aircraft carriers — one in 2007 with a new nuclear power plant, catapult system and other features that would provide a transition to a more advanced model in 2011. Under the proposed budget, the Navy would be allowed to build the first carrier, provided it contains some of the new technology intended for the second.
The Air Force, determined to preserve its new F/A-22 fighter jet in the face of persistent cost overruns, has agreed to order fewer planes if it cannot bring production expenses down. But the budget plan raises uncertainties about both the F/A-22 and another warplane in development, the Joint Strike Fighter, by boosting money for alternative means of delivering bombs, including unmanned aerial vehicles, experimental hypersonic aircraft and new kinds of cruise missiles. "These categories will provide a kind of mix-and-match set of capabilities," a senior defense official said.
Among the big winners in the new budget plan is Special Operations Command, whose $4.9 billion budget is slated to climb about 20 percent in 2004, officials said. The Pentagon has relied heavily on special operations in the war in Afghanistan and counterterrorism actions around the world. Much of the extra money, officials said, would go toward additional troops, refitted Chinook helicopters and new Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and submersible vessels.
