The Department of Defense budget is not going down, regardless of the recent talk by Defense Secretary Robert Gates trumpeting $78 billion in military cuts (over five years). Yes, Gates plans to trim spending in some areas, and even eliminate certain weapons programs. But the Pentagon budget will continue to rise, as it has over the past two decades.

 

The next Defense budget is projected to grow by 3%, to $553 billion—money that does not include the cost of military operations in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

 

By 2015, the budget will eclipse $620 billion. After that, it may stop growing if the government sticks to its current long-term plan and withdraws as planned from Afghanistan, which would allow the defense secretary to reduce the size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.

 

The fiscal blueprint for the Pentagon has gone up every year since 1998.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Despite Talk of Cuts, Pentagon Spending Still Going Up (by Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers)

Budget Battles: Did Gates “Cut” Defense Cash? (by Spencer Ackerman, Wired)