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| June 8, 2000 |
| June 8, 2000 |
Service Chiefs to Seek Major Pentagon Funding Boost
Christopher Hellman, Senior Analyst, chellman@cdi.org
Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) plan to seek substantial increases in military spending under the next administration, according to press accounts. The "Washington Post" reported that long term budget requests submitted by the JCS this week call for additional spending of as much as $30 billion annually for most of the next decade.
By definition these documents, known as Program Objective Memorandums (POMs), are intended to reflect spending levels set for the services by the Administration. However, statements by representatives of the JCS indicate that while recent increases in military spending have been well received by the Service Chiefs, the POMs reflect their belief that significantly greater resources need to be made available in the immediate future. "What the Chiefs have identified...is that despite the gains we've made, there remains a significant shortfall between our validated requirements and the money available in the budgets," said Navy Captain Stephen Pietropaoli, spokesperson for the JCS.
The $30 billion increase represents a ten percent rise over current funding, which is already at levels roughly equal to U.S. peacetime spending during the Cold War. In order to free up these resources, a major reordering of federal spending priorities would be necessary.
The decision by the JCS to disregard the funding levels set by the Pentagon's civilian leadership in preparing the POM reflects a continuation of the recent trend by the nation's military -- with the help of Congress -- to circumvent normal budgetary procedures. As recently as three years ago, members of the JCS testified to Congress that the proposed levels of military spending were adequate to meet mission requirements and ensure the readiness of U.S. forces. Since then, however, the services have lobbied hard to secure additional funding. Congress has padded special spending packages intended to fund peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and military operations in Iraq and Kosovo with unrelated Pentagon spending. The annual "wish lists" submitted by the service chiefs to Congress of their unfunded priorities have become increasingly lengthy, and this year, for the first time, were actually released before the Administration's official budget request.
With the Clinton Administration for all intents and purposes "on the way out the door," it seems unlikely that the White House will challenge the JCS action. This is particularly true given the Administration's historical lack of credibility on military issues, and the fact that the White House will likely seek to avoid direct confrontation with the Pentagon during Vice President Gore's election campaign.
Meanwhile, the POMs represent a challenge to both Vice President Gore and Governor Bush as they enter the height of the campaign season. Both candidates have made providing for a strong military a component of their respective platforms. The actions of the JCS have effectively "raised the bar" in the debate over what are appropriate levels of military spending, and the Chiefs have -- uncharacteristically -- injected themselves into the political arena. Can a bidding war by the two presidential candidates for the "hearts and minds" of the military be far behind?
Europe's NMD Deliberations
By Tomas Valasek, Senior Analyst, tvalasek@cdi.org
On the heels of President Clinton's visit to Europe, Russia's President Vladimir Putin traveled to Italy with a proposal to create a continent -wide missile defense system. The plan -- clearly designed to counter the U.S. National Missile Defense (NMD) system -- is finding many sympathetic ears among European leaders. NATO allies seemed to have embraced the Russian proposal as a possible way to diffuse tensions within the alliance stemming from European opposition to NMD.
Europe is virtually unanimous in its criticism of NMD, despite President Clinton's recent offer to share missile defense technology with "civilized nations." The Department of State, commenting on President Clinton's proposal, concluded that "Mr. Clinton's defense of NMD fell on mostly deaf ears in European media outlets, where editorials continued their drumbeat of criticism. Only a right-of-center German newspaper argued against the 'wholesale rejection' of the U.S. proposal." European politicians criticized the plan in terms that were perhaps less verbose but no less firm.
President Putin's counterproposal comes at an opportune time both for Russia and Europe. Russia is equally opposed to NMD, so reaching out to the European Union (EU) countries will bolster the critics' strength. Moreover, Moscow senses a chance to regain its influence on the continent. The war in Chechnya has put a strain on EU-Russian relations, particularly after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe reproached Russia for its conduct in Chechnya and Moscow withdrew from the Council in protest. Mutual opposition to NMD gives Moscow an opening to mend fences with EU countries. Lastly, Russia's long-term objective, as stated in the 1999 draft National Security Concept, is to change the balance of power in the world currently dominated by the United States. "If the EU and Russia were to get back together," said Paul Beaver, an expert at Jane's Missiles and Rockets, "it would bring the world back into a bipolar situation again."
But for Europe, the choices are less clear. Senior politicians in Germany, Italy, and France did speak out against NMD. But their main criticism is that it will weaken U.S. -- European strategic links by fostering a siege mentality in the United States. Implicitly, the European NATO allies make it clear they want to remain under the United States' protective umbrella. This makes it unlikely that they will wholeheartedly embrace Russian proposals and disregard the possible rift with Washington. Russia's dreams of teaming up with Europe to counterbalance the United States are likely to remain just that. As the war in Chechnya demonstrated, the EU's values and interests lie much closer to those of the United States than to Russia's.
Regardless of Russia's overtures, Washington can ill-afford to ignore Europe' s reservations. The EU's outright opposition to U.S. deployment of an NMD system -- a possibility, although not yet a reality, as the EU has not formulated a joint position on NMD -- would put in doubt the future of NATO. But there is another very practical consideration: NMD, especially in its later stages, simply won't work without cooperation from Europe.
The system relies on a network of early warning radars to detect the missiles, and X-band radar stations to track the missiles and to distinguish between real warheads and decoys. Two of the early warning radars used for NMD as well as a downlink station for the Space-Based Infrared System are in the United Kingdom and in Greenland, whose foreign policy is decided by Denmark. Moreover, future NMD expansions call for new X-band radars to be added to the existing early warning radar stations in Thule, Greenland and Fylingdales, UK.
John Pike, a missile expert at the Federation of American Scientists, said that while it is questionable if NMD can work at all, without X-band radars in Europe the future expansion of NMD is impossible. Thus, should the United States fail to secure Europe's approval for expansion of its radar systems there, future U.S. governments would be unable to fully deploy a national missile defense as currently envisioned.
NATO Charged with War Crimes in Kosovo -- A recent report by Amnesty International concluded that NATO allies violated laws of war by deliberately attacking a civilian object, the Serbian Radio and TV building in Belgrade. The report also alleges that NATO failed to suspend attacks on military objects after it became clear that civilians were hit as well. NATO spokesman Jamie Shea rejected the charges. Last week, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, dismissed war crimes charges against NATO. Ms. Del Ponte argued that "there was no deliberate targeting of civilians or unlawful military targets."
Laser Shoots Down Rocket -- The U.S. Army's Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) successfully tracked and shot down a Katyusha rocket in a test at White Sands Missile Range on Tuesday. This is the first such test of the THEL system, which is being developed by the Army and the Israeli government for deployment along Israel's northern border with Lebanon. The Katyusha rocket used as a target is similar to the short range rockets fired by Hezbollah guerillas at Israel from inside Lebanon.
U.S., Russia to Build Joint Missile Warning Center -- One of the successes of this week's presidential summit in Moscow was the finalization of an agreement between the two governments to build a joint U.S.--Russian center to track ballistic missile launches. Eventually the Joint Data Exchange Center will provide near real-time information on missile launches not only to the U.S. and Russia, but other countries. The agreement builds on a temporary information-sharing arrangement between the two countries put in place to alleviate possible problems with their early warning systems arising from the Y2K crisis.
Attack Helicopter Announcement Delayed -- Turkey has announced that it will postpone its contract announcement for attack helicopters for another month. Turkey will decide on a $4 billion deal for 145 attack helicopters. The U.S. Bell Textron King Cobra is favored to received the contract.
Colt Loses M-16 Contract -- The Defense Department has announced that FN Manufacturing Inc. has been awarded a contract for the M-16A4 rifle. The contract is worth an estimated $50 million. FN Manufacturing is part of FN Herstal, a Belgian weapons manufacturer. Colt had previously been the military's main M-16 contractor. Colt will continue to supply the M-4 carbine.
This week on America's Defense Monitor: "Is China a Military Threat?"
The United States put China back into the strategic war plan last year, after a hiatus of two decades. Now the two countries view each other as potential nuclear adversaries. How did we arrive at this juncture and are we headed toward a nuclear show-down?
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