Center Offers Guide To Making Defense Budget Choices Prudently

As the House of Representatives began debate on the FY 1991 Defense Authorization Act, the Center for Security Policy provided a road map for legislators to follow in avoiding contemplated cuts in defense programs and capabilities that could endanger America’s vital interests in the turbulent decade ahead.

The Center’s analysis, entitled Defense Scorecard #3: An Assessment of Congressional Actions on Key FY1991 Defense Issues, marks the third in a series of such papers dealing with the progress of the defense budget through Congress. It compares Administration, Senate and House Armed Services Committee proposals for a variety of conventional and nuclear weapons programs. Defense Scorecard #3 is particularly useful as a guide to military programs and capabilities recommended for termination or budget reduction by the House Armed Services Committee when it reported out this legislation on 31 July 1990 but which — in light of events in the Persian Gulf — must clearly now be reconsidered.

"Saddam Hussein has demonstrated unmistakably that the so-called Post-Cold War world is likely to remain an unsafe one for America’s vital interests," said Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the Center’s director. "Fortunately, Iraq’s aggression — and the swift U.S. military build-up it necessitated — have given pause, at least for the moment, to those who would make draconian reductions in the United States’ defenses."

Gaffney added, "For this to be more than a mere stay of execution, however, the House of Representatives must rework a number of its Armed Services Committee’s recommendations. Specifically, the House must restore funding to those systems savaged by the Committee’s mark-up that emphasize the following key characteristics: the flexibility to perform multiple missions; the utilization of advanced technology; and the ability to project power over long distances."

Using this standard, the Center’s recommendations include: full funding of the B-2 bomber and Strategic Defense Initiative; restoration of procurement funding for the C-17 airlifter; and the preservation of key production lines (such as that for the F-14D) until such time as an effective replacement is in production.

Copies of Scorecard #3 may be obtained by contacting the Center.