Top military officials meet on defense spending

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.