News-Info-Alerts

Re: US $20 Billion More For War Includes POW-MIA Issues

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: January 10, 2003

"$20 Billion More Needed For War
United Press International

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon will need an additional $20 billion to pay for its current military operations through September, including the ongoing war in Afghanistan and major buildup in the Persian Gulf, the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Thursday.

Congress rejected a Pentagon request last year for a $10 billion contingency fund to cover current operations this year, said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who was elected chairman on Wednesday.

"As a result, DOD is reaching into its cash register," Hunter said. "The military is going to have to see that money they are putting out every month" come back to them. The money would most likely come in the form of an "emergency supplemental approporiation" and would be added to the $360 billion the Pentagon is spending this year.

Hunter told reporters his top priorities for the next two years will be providing the Pentagon enough money to cover its operations without having to dip in to training and modernization funds; boosting the weapons budget from its current level of $71 billion to $90 billion; letting small businesses compete against large defense contractors for Pentagon weapons contracts -- even after they are awarded -- and changing environmental laws to give the military more freedom to use live weapons and conduct massive training exercises on bases where animal and plant life is now protected.

"A large part of our base can't be used for training ... because of various environmental concerns," Hunter said, speaking of Camp Pendleton, Calif., a Marine Corps base. "They can't dig foxholes because other critters got there ahead of him."

It's not a new issue. Military officials have been decrying "range encroachment" issues on its many bases for years, as they are limited in their activities by the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and other federal and state laws.

For instance, the 40,000 Marines and sailors at Camp Pendleton are restricted in full-scale amphibious training -- ship to shore -- because the endangered Riverside Fairy Shrimp lives in delicate and ephemeral vernal pools that would be trampled by the exercises, according to the Orange County Navy League.

"Of Pendleton's 17.5 miles of coast line, only four beaches totaling a few thousand yards may be used for amphibious assault training," according to the Navy League.

Camp Pendleton is also home to the protected Least Tern, Snowy Plower, Least Bells Viero and the Tidewater Goby nesting sites, during breeding season.

Hunter, a vocal champion of military spending, is committed to boosting the modernization budget by almost 30 percent, but offered no timetable.

"I want to see us get to $90 billion," Hunter said. "There's a very strong case to be made for more money."

Hunter also announced a wholesale reorganization of the committee structure, and his six subcommittee chairmen.

Previously the subcommittee structure reflected the organization of the Pentagon budget: procurement, personnel, military construction, research and development, and readiness (operations and maintenance.)

The new structure comprises six subcommittees, organized functionally:

-- Tactical Air and Land Forces, Chairman Curt Weldon, R-Pa.: All Army and Air Force acquisition (except strategic weapons and mobility, special operations and information technology) and Navy and Marine Corps aviation, reserve modernization, and ammunition programs.

-- Readiness, Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo.: military readiness, training, logistics and maintenance, military construction, installations, family housing and base closures.

-- Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, Chairman Jim Saxton, R-N.J.: counter proliferation and counter terrorism; special operations forces, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, information technology, force protection policy, related intelligence support.

-- Total Force, Chairman John McHugh, R-N.Y.: military personnel policy, reserve component integration and employment issues, military health care, education, POW/MIA issues. Also responsible for morale, welfare and recreation.

-- Strategic Forces, Chairman Terry Everett, R-Ala.: space programs, ballistic missile defense and Energy Department national security programs, all strategic forces except deep strike bombers and related systems.

-- Projection Forces, Chairman Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md.: All Navy and Marine Corps programs (except strategic weapons and space programs, special ops and information technology), deep strike bombers and related systems, strategic lift programs and naval reserve equipment.

Copyright 2003 United Press International. "