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Top military officials meet on defense spending

Posted on: Monday, 21 November 2005, 18:57 CST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. military officials including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday weighed cuts in the Pentagon's $400 billion-plus annual budget that is under pressure from Iraq war costs and hurricane recovery spending.

Rumsfeld and his deputy Gordon England met with the military and civilian chiefs of the various services for most of the day but reached no decisions, according to sources familiar with the talks.

"This was not a meeting for final decisions but it's a key step in the process," said one official on condition he not be named.

Programs that came under discussion included the Joint Strike Fighter and the F/A-22 fighters being build by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.'s C-17 transport aircraft, according to this official.

Ship building programs, where Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics dominate, as well as space programs and the Army's Future Combat System, where Boeing is a prime contractor, were also discussed.

A spokesman for England declined to go into detail. The meeting "looked at a vast array of military programs," said Capt. Kevin Wensing.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said earlier on Monday that the meeting was the fifth strategic planning meeting and that there would be at least one more.

"We are reaching that point then where, in the near future, we will have to then start making decisions," he told reporters.

The discussions are part of preparation for President George W. Bush's 2007 budget plan to be issued in February. They also are part of a study of defense programs conducted every four years.

Bush's budget plan is sent to Congress, which usually makes substantial changes, often adding money for weapons programs the military has sought to curtail.

Source: REUTERS

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