Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

AF chief Schwartz to defense industry execs: ‘Don’t blow smoke up my ass’

Interesting story by John Bennett of The Hill : Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, after that headline grabbing statement, went on to say, “There’s no time for it. There’s no patience for it. OK?. . . If industry makes a commitment, you will have to deliver. There will be less tolerance ...

Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

Interesting story by John Bennett of The Hill :

Interesting story by John Bennett of The Hill :

Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, after that headline grabbing statement, went on to say, “There’s no time for it. There’s no patience for it. OK?. . . If industry makes a commitment, you will have to deliver. There will be less tolerance … for not delivering.” What a concept: Deliver what you promise! The Air Force hasn’t gone quite to zero tolerance with defense contractors, but is heading in that direction. Too bad we had to wait for budgetary belt-tightening to get this tough mindset.  

Speaking of spending hundreds of billions of dollars, here’s your chance to ask Pentagon acquisition czar Ash Carter what he did with the money! It’s Feb. 22, 2011, at 6 pm. Here is registration info. CNAS will very nicely offer drinks afterward, probably as much-needed medicine. But no blowing smoke!  

Meanwhile, mega-hawk Tom Donnelly polices up some loose talk among uninformed conservatives about cutting the defense budget. He’s right about Marine Corps aviation, which has been a mess for years. I think the Corps would be much better off if in the mid-’80s it had abandoned the V-22, the Delorean of aircraft, and gone with the Black Hawk, the Lexus of helicopters. Donnelly, in an e-mail to me, adds, “The House of Reps. will CUT BARACK OBAMA’S defense budget request. We’re through the looking glass.”

For those of you coming in late, the places to begin cutting the defense budget are in the huge support structure, especially outsourced contracts and health care costs. Secondarily, defense agencies and other infrastructure that might not be needed (like JFCOM). Finally, and lastly, personnel and weapons systems.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1
Tag: War

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