Worst case is that the sequestration cuts kick in on a month-to-month basis, as the fiscal stand-off between Congress and the president drags on. In early February, in anticipation of having to “operate down” to this worst case, the Navy cancelled the scheduled deployment of the USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) strike group, which was to be the second of two carrier strike groups hitherto maintained on station in the CENTCOM AOR. Secretary Leon Panetta announced at the time that the U.S. would cut its CENTCOM-deployed carrier force to one.
A strike group brings not just the carrier and its air wing but an Aegis cruiser and/or Aegis destroyers, all with Tomahawk missile load-outs. In multiple ways, U.S. combat power has now been cut in half in the CENTCOM AOR due to the long-running fiscal stand-off. The level of carrier presence is insufficient today to execute a limited-strike campaign against Iran while containing the potential backlash.
-J.E. Dyer, Dead in the water: Obama’s military and the Iran nuclear threat
Given the likelihood that Obama would not authorize any of the options that the depletion of readiness funds would allow, the fact that we are less capable of doing something is less a matter of concern than the inclinations of the administration. AS they used to say in Vietnam, “if it’s not worth doing, it’s not worth doing well.”
Obama’s actions not only tie his own hands, they destroy important options for future administrations.
When next unemployment rises or the economy falters – Obama will claim that his policies were rescuing the economy and ending unemployment but the Sequester destroyed everything and has plunged the economy into ruins that only He can fix.
Grey Eagle, I am sure you are correct. I don’t see what else the Republicans can do. They have to rely on the common sense of the people, a weak reed these days.
I was complaining at the train station that my department of the Federal Government was requiring everyone in the department to take a mandatory 3 hour sexual harassment in the workplace class despite the sequester.
My friend has been a government manager for over 30 years and is going to retire in the next year or two. He is being forced to take a 10 hour management course plus renew his security clearance (not DOD or intelligence). The FBI told him the security clearance would cost the government $150,000. I guess they’re not totally out of cash.
Jonathan: I am with Mike on this one.
Obama reaffirmed his policy of deference to the Iranian regime by making the Iran apologist and Jew hater Chuck Hagel his SoD.
DoD could have found the funds to send the Truman to the P-Gulf in between the couch cushions. They didn’t because the “Commander in Chief” (actually the political ops) told them not to. Hussein is engaged in executing a “close the Washington Monument” strategy in hopes of getting a second round of tax increases this year.
I share your concerns about the long term effects of Hussein’s war on the DoD, but I don’t see the sequester as being very relevant. Obama and Hagel were going to do what they could to destroy those capabilities with or without the sequester.
Neru fiddles while Rome burns.
Hussein is doing much more to destroy the military in his personnel moves than in his fiscal. Stalin in 1938.
I was told that the DoD plans to RIF many officers at the LTC and major level in all services and replace them with new recruits. The US army has always had too many officers but I don’t think this is intended to do anything but reduce personnel costs. A few years ago, many were lamenting the loss of junior officers who were resigning. Now, the plan is to deplete the ranks of the next leaders and send them out to a bad economy to look for jobs. The hell with the future.