WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama Thursday unveiled a 663.7 billion dollar defense budget, up a modest 1.5 percent on 2009, but projected a sharp decline in spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming years.

The new administration has signalled it hopes to make savings through a planned withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and from cuts in expensive weapons programs — though Obama′s budget request did not specify what new weaponry might be scrapped.

The president′s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2010 unveiled Thursday seeks 130 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, down from 141.4 billion for operations in the current fiscal year.

The proposed budget offered a rough forecast that the cost of the war efforts would drop to about 50 billion dollars annually in the next several years.

The monthly cost of the war in Iraq has already declined from about 10 billion dollars to eight billion in recent months, officials said.

The budget request includes 533.7 billion dollars for the main defense budget, which marks an increase of four percent over the main budget for fiscal 2009, excluding most of the costs of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some war costs were shifted to the main defense budget, Pentagon officials said, but did not offer further details.

The proposed military spending will "meet the national security needs of this country," a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters.

The president also requested an additional 75.5 billion dollars to cover war costs for the rest of the current fiscal year, after Congress approved 65.9 billion for fiscal 2009 before Obama took office.

The vast US defense budget represents more than 40 percent of the world′s total military spending and US spending will continue to grow under Obama′s budget, albeit at a slower pace than under former president George W. Bush.

"It looks like the pattern of overall growth in Pentagon spending will continue in President Obama?s first budget," said Travis Sharp, military policy analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

"The annual growth rate, however, appears to be lower than was typical during the Bush years."

Bush′s annual defense budget requests called for increases of about four to five percent in military spending, according to Sharp.

Under Obama, the projected war costs were now being presented at the same time as the rest of the federal budget to show "greater transparency," said the defense official, instead of past practice when proposed war budgets were presented piecemeal over time.

The war costs would also be included when the government calculates the overall budget deficit, in a break with previous policy, the official said.

"What the administration is trying to do is they′re trying to bring visibility to the entire war cost estimate at the time of the submission of the budget," the official said.

The president and his Democratic allies have criticized the previous administration′s controversial method of accounting for the cost of the wars through a series of "supplemental" funding requests outside of the main defense budget.

In Obama′s proposed budget, his administration vowed to impose strict scrutiny over spending on weapons programs but shed no light on which aircraft, ships, vehicles or other sophisticated weaponry might be dumped.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, placing a top priority on fighting insurgents rather than conventional warfare, has warned that big weapons projects plagued by delays and cost overruns could face cutbacks.

A list of candidates for possible cutbacks drawn up by the Pentagon includes more Navy destroyers built by General Dynamics, fighter jets including Lockheed Martin and Boeing′s F-22 Raptors and carrier-based Super Hornets, a digital radio system for all the armed services and missile defense weaponry for Poland and the Czech Republic.

Gates has already singled out the F-22 Raptor fighters, which cost about 350 million dollars each, for potential cutbacks.

Military analysts have also questioned the need for more Navy aircraft carriers and a computer-linked network of Army vehicles, known as Future Combat Systems.

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WASHINGTON (AFP) – Senior Pentagon officials have had to promise they will keep the details of the US military budget secret as the Defense Department prepares to make tough cuts on weapons programs, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

In an unprecedented move, Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked top military officers and civilian officials to sign non-disclosure forms in which they agree not to reveal deliberations about the politically charged budget.

"Everybody who′s participating in this process — these are the highest ranking people in this department ... were asked to sign an agreement in which they would agree not to speak to any of the matters that they are working on as part of this budget process," press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference.

"This is highly sensitive stuff involving programs costing tens of billions of dollars, employing hundreds of thousands of people and — and go to the heart of national security," he said.

Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were among those required to sign, and Gates himself signed the form, Morrell said.

"This is to reinforce the message that indeed this is classified material. These are highly secret discussions. And we should remember that, be mindful of it, and honor it," Morrell said.

News of the bid to impose secrecy came as President Barack Obama prepares to present his budget request to Congress on Thursday.

Gates has warned he plans to take a hard look at expensive weapons programs, which enjoy the backing of powerful defense firms and lawmakers in Congress.

The non-disclosure forms may carry less legal weight than the strict security clearances already governing top officials and officers. But the defense secretary′s step may have been designed more as a symbolic message to curb leaks about sensitive budget negotiations, analysts said.

Gates is "trying to invoke personal loyalty," said Michael O′Hanlon at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

"Gates is trying to send the message that if you do that (leak) you′re actually hurting me and I′ll take it as a personal affront and I′m personally asking you not to do it," O′Hanlon told AFP.


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WASHINGTON (AFP) – Hi-tech fighter aircraft, new warships and missile defense projects are all potential targets for big cuts in the US defense budget, as the American military faces a new era of limits under President Barack Obama.

With a mushrooming budget deficit of more than a trillion dollars, the new administration has signaled it hopes to scale back military spending partly through a planned reduction of troops in Iraq and by taking the axe to big ticket weapons programs.

"It′s easier to cut weapons than personnel," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.

"There are clear signs that US defense spending peaked in 2008 and that it will be gradually declining over the next four years as the United States reduces its presence in Iraq," Thompson told AFP.

Obama′s predecessor signed a 612 billion dollar defense authorization bill in September, the largest in real terms since World War II. But the economic crisis means defense spending will come under more pressure and restrictions.

In his speech to Congress on Tuesday, Obama promised his upcoming budget would bolster the pay and benefits of soldiers and increase the total number of troops but that unnecessary, "Cold War-era" weapons would be dumped.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, placing a top priority on fighting insurgents rather than conventional warfare, has warned that big weapons projects plagued by delays and cost overruns will come in for tougher scrutiny.

A list of candidates for possible cutbacks drawn up by the Pentagon includes more Navy destroyers built by General Dynamics, fighter jets including Lockheed Martin and Boeing′s F-22 Raptors and carrier-based Super Hornets, a digital radio system for all the armed services and missile defense weaponry for Poland and the Czech Republic.

Gates has already singled out the F-22 Raptor fighters, which cost about 350 million dollars each, for potential cutbacks.

Military analysts have also questioned the need for more Navy aircraft carriers and a computer-linked network of Army vehicles, known as Future Combat Systems, which has faced criticism.

Gates has expressed frustration at slow-moving weapons programs that seem unrelated to the immediate threats posed by militants in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan or the deserts of Iraq.

The United States cannot "eliminate national-security risks through higher defense budgets, to do everything and buy everything," Gates wrote recently in the journal Foreign Affairs.

But lawmakers in Congress, many of whom receive campaign funding from military contractors, have a long tradition of fending off cuts to weapons projects in their home districts.

Determined to stem leaks over budget questions, Gates has made senior officials promise they will keep the details of defense budget talks secret as his department prepares to make tough cuts, a spokesman said.

In an unprecedented move, Gates has asked top military officers and civilian officials to sign non-disclosure forms in which they agree not to reveal deliberations about the politically charged budget.

"This is highly sensitive stuff involving programs costing tens of billions of dollars, employing hundreds of thousands of people and — and go to the heart of national security," press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

Some conservative analysts argue constraints on defense spending could mean the United States will over time lose its strategic dominance as other countries seize on possible weaknesses.

"When you step back from all the details and look at what is really happening in the new administration, American military power is likely to decline in the years ahead due to a lack of money," Thompson said.

On the political left, Obama has already been accused of failing to rein in the vast Pentagon budget that represents nearly half of the world′s military spending.

"The Barack Obama administration is continuing the neo-conservative agenda of US military domination of the world — albeit with perhaps with a kinder-gentler face," said Peter Phillips, a professor at Sonoma State University and director of Project Censored.

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I confess, i′m truly amazed. Obama enters saving banks, car makers, increase spending in education, health, money for everyone.

I thought, well he must cut somewhere, the US debt is simply huge and where can he cut? for me is easy, the defense budget have been increasing like a rocket in Bush hands, so he can put a pause and decrease.

But no. The man is going to increase the budget. It looks like they have money falling from sky. There is money to save all, hell they should pay everyones homes and give to all free healthcare, i′m sure they have money for that too.

Better thinking why they need to work? Americans should have holidays 12 months a year, i′ sure government will get money for everyone.

And by the way, if Obama wants to cut in Iraq and Afghanistan, to cut planes, ships, missiles, why they need an increase in budget??

The last paragraf of the last article says all:

...The Barack Obama administration is continuing the neo-conservative agenda of US military domination of the world — albeit with perhaps with a kinder-gentler face," said Peter Phillips, a professor at Sonoma State University and director of Project Censored.

Indeed.

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