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

The defense budget implosion (VI): An exchange between McCain and the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs

For your defense budget files, from yesterday’s Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Gen. Dempsey: SEN. MCCAIN: Which brings me again full circle. We have announced cuts without a commensurate assessment of the impact of those cuts. And in your view, a — what would an 800- (billion dollar) to trillion-dollar cut in defense spending over the ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

For your defense budget files, from yesterday's Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Gen. Dempsey:

For your defense budget files, from yesterday’s Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Gen. Dempsey:

SEN. MCCAIN: Which brings me again full circle. We have announced cuts without a commensurate assessment of the impact of those cuts. And in your view, a — what would an 800- (billion dollar) to trillion-dollar cut in defense spending over the next 10 years do to our readiness, General?

GEN. DEMPSEY:  Senator, I haven’t been asked to look at that number, but I have looked — and we are looking at 400 (billion dollars) — and I would react in this way. Based on the difficulty of achieving the $400 billion cut, I believe 800 (billion dollars) would be extraordinarily difficult and very high-risk.

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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