Gates Takes On Three Controversial Pentagon TargetsAugust 20, 2010

 

In his drive to slash spending, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he is prepared to take on even the most controversial Pentagon targets.

Gates now has in his crosshairs three expenses that are ingrained in the department's culture, according to an article in The Washington Post.

1. Role of the Marine Corp

Secretary Gates is pressing two top military officials to define "the unique mission of the Marines going forward." He noted that the Marine Corps had been used more like a "so-called second land army" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

New weapons systems used by potential enemies call into question the Marines’ ability to use assault ships to move fighting forces across water and onto land. He noted that countries now possess accurate and long-range anti-ship missiles that would force the Marines further offshore. The article adds that this is not the first time the Marine Corps's mission has been questioned. Just after World War II, Congress passed legislation that backed the Marine mission with federal law. "The only service to do so," Gates said.

2. Personnel Retirement Benefits

On the issue of changing military retirement benefits, Gates said in an interview in Foreign Policy magazine, "I may be bold, but I am not crazy." Nonetheless, he did ask the Defense Business Board (DBB), an advisory committee composed of former defense officials and business leaders, to find ways to take on this controversial issue.

The DBB found that the retirement system was set up at a time when the military was mostly composed of low-paid draftees. Now, was a volunteer fighting force, the system offers people a retirement package after 20 years of service. This is when soldiers "are most productive [and] experienced," and it provides for them and their families for another 40 years, according to the DBB study.

The task force chairman, Arnold Punaro, said that the military’s focus [after retirement] is on pay and benefits as expenses but has ignored "the long term, fully burdened cost of the most expensive personnel" when a substantial amount of the personnel costs are focused on those who no longer serve on active duty. "It is an unsustainable trend," he said. Congress has balked at changing the retirement rules even though it did recognize in 1986 that military retirement was "the largest unfunded liability of the federal government."

3. Military Health Care

Over the past two years, military health care costs have skyrocketed 144% to $42.5 billion, from $17.4 billion. Retirees account for 65% of that expenditure. Going forward, Gates said that health care costs will climb to more than $50 billion next year and about $65 billion by 2015. "I think it's safe to say that, as far as I'm concerned, in this effort there are no sacred cows and health care cannot be excepted from that."