Autour des d\u00e9bats importants et sensibles sur le sort du Pentagone dans l’administration Obama, on signale de nouvelles informations sur les interventions du Defense Business Board (DBB), d\u00e9j\u00e0<\/a> signal\u00e9es<\/a> sur ce site, et sur des interventions associ\u00e9es au sein du Pentagone. Un article du Boston Globe<\/em> en date du 10 novembre<\/a> relaie ces informations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tLes deux points \u00e0 mettre en \u00e9vidence dans cet article est que le DBB, lors de ses interventions aupr\u00e8s du secr\u00e9taire \u00e0 la d\u00e9fense, a affirm\u00e9 que des r\u00e9ductions budg\u00e9taires tr\u00e8s importantes \u00e9taient n\u00e9cessaires au Pentagone, d’une fa\u00e7on ou d’une autre, ou m\u00eame, plus pr\u00e9cis\u00e9ment, d’une fa\u00e7on et<\/strong> l’autre, c’est-\u00e0-dire en r\u00e9duisant le budget du Pentagone en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral et en r\u00e9duisant le budget de certains grands programmes, voire en abandonnant certains d’entre eux; cela signifie autant une r\u00e9duction du volume g\u00e9n\u00e9ral du Pentagone qu’une r\u00e9duction de certaines de ses orientations. (\u00abAnd a few cuts here or there won’t do the trick. Taking cuts at the margin won’t work this time, nor will pushing things off to later years.<\/em>\u00bb) Parmi ces grands programmes que le DBB juge au moins taillable et corv\u00e9able \u00e0 merci \u00e0 cause de leur catastrophique gestion, d’autres sources mettent en \u00e9vidence qu’on trouve en t\u00eate le F-35\/JSF, suivi de pr\u00e8s par le programme g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de missiles anti-missiles dont fait partie bien s\u00fbr le BMDE europ\u00e9en impliquant la Pologne et la Tch\u00e9quie (\u00abTogether these programs constitute a military crisis in their own right<\/em>\u00bb).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tVoici quelques extraits de l’article du Globe<\/em>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abA senior Pentagon advisory group, in a series of bluntly worded briefings, is warning President-elect Barack Obama that the Defense Department’s current budget is not sustainable, and he must scale back or eliminate some of the military’s most prized weapons programs. The briefings were prepared by the Defense Business Board, an internal management oversight body. It contends that the nation’s recent financial crisis makes it imperative that the Pentagon and Congress slash some of the nation’s most costly and troubled weapons to ensure they can finance the military’s most pressing priorities.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThose include rebuilding ground forces battered by multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan and expanding the ranks to wage the war on terrorism. Business as usual is no longer an option, according to one of the internal briefings prepared in late October for the presidential transition, copies of which were provided to the Globe. The current and future fiscal environments facing the department demand bold action.<\/em> []<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abAdded pressure on the Pentagon budget comes from what the briefing calls fiscal constraint in a tough economy that is saddled with rising deficits and growing political support for increased government spending in other areas. We are all acutely aware there is a financial crisis going on, said a senior defense official closely involved in the transition process.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbExacerbating the problem, according to the advisory group, are the rising costs of military personnel, their healthcare, and overhead. The documents estimate that more than half the annual defense budget now goes to people costs, including $60 billion a year for the healthcare of service members and retirees. They will almost certainly grow, even with a reduction in US troops in Iraq, given that the Pentagon has said it will increase ground forces by more than 70,000 troops over the next few years.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThat leaves dozens of weapons systems and other equipment under development as prime areas for cost-savings, according to Steven Kosiak, vice president of budget studies at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. The areas most likely to get cut are acquisition and procurement, Kosiak said. As long as the administration is committed to increasing troop strength you have to pay those people costs, and there is not a lot of flexibility when it comes to benefits.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tOn reste encore largement dans le vague pour ce qui concerne les intentions de l’administration Obama concernant le Pentagone, sans doute parce que ces intentions restent \u00e0 \u00eatre fix\u00e9es. Mais les avertissements et les pressions viennent de toutes parts pour des r\u00e9ductions importantes du budget et il semble bien, d’apr\u00e8s les informations propres au Globe<\/em>, que les appr\u00e9ciations du DBB aient \u00e9t\u00e9 encore bien plus fermes que ce qui avait d’abord \u00e9t\u00e9 rapport\u00e9. Dans toutes les hypoth\u00e8ses \u00e9voqu\u00e9es, d\u00e8s lors qu’il est question de r\u00e9ductions budg\u00e9taires au Pentagone, les syst\u00e8mes d’arme sont au premier rang et le JSF est au premier rang d’entre eux.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n