【原帖地址】：http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/14/us/pentagon-congress-cuts/
【原文标题】：Dire warnings from Pentagon over potential defense cuts
【译者】MacTavish_Tang
【翻译方式】人工
就在美国国会两党对联邦政府预算争执不下时，国防部长帕内塔又来火上浇油。他警告称：即将启动的预算自动削减机制将会严重损害国家安全，并会引发从五角大楼到远在阿富汗的战场，到民间工业生产线的财政上的连锁反应。
五角大楼方面正在酝酿在未来10年中削减4500亿军费，然而五角大楼担心如果国会不能就预算达成一致，他们将不得不再削减6000亿的军费。
在致麦凯恩与格雷厄姆两位参议员的一封信中，帕内塔称：“削减预算将会给国防部造成毁灭性的影响。如果国会不能就预算案达成一致，那么国防部面临最高可达23%的费用削减，同时会殃及一些新系统项目。”
帕内塔在信中还说：“对各国防项目重要性不予区分的预算削减机制将会导致我们大部分的舰艇，建设工程无法运作——显然（在没有足够资金的情况下），你不可能只买一艘船或者一栋楼的3/4。并且如此大规模的削减预算将会使我们军队现代化的努力严重受挫。此外，我们被迫对我们的文职人员区别对待，而且由于预算削减案迫在眉睫，我们不得不解雇许多职员以期能达到预算削减案所规定的目标。这些变动将会使那些供养军队的人丧失对我们信心和继续支持我们的意愿。”
帕内塔认为，削减预算最终受害的会是作战部队。
帕内塔警告说：“虽然战时在海外应急行动帐户中的资金并未受到削减预算所带来的直接影响，但是我们在战争中所付出的努力将会因为基础预算的混乱而受到不利影响。此外，缔约职员将被削减，这将导致那些支援战争的合同的延误。薪资和人员的削减会导致推迟向战时供应商付款。对战争的法律和政策的支持将被打乱。”
麦凯恩与格雷厄姆两位参议员10天前回信给帕内塔，询问关于预算自动削减机制可能会给国防部带来哪些潜在影响。
两位议员在周一的一份联合声明中声称：“针对国防部的预算削减将会迅速动摇美国作为全球首屈一指的军事力量的地位。因此我们坚决反对这样苛刻的预算削减要求。我们不能接受国防预算大幅削减的结果，我们不能自毁长城。大幅削减国防预算将会损害国家的安全和利益，我们绝不允许这样的情况发生。”
尽管有帕内塔的信件和来自议员的警告，但这些能否是国会通过一份折中的预算或加速免除削减五角大楼预算的呼吁仍拭目以待。
关于削减预算，帕内塔越来越直言不讳——虽然他在当国防部长前曾有多年在国会和白宫做有关预算方面的专长。
上周，帕内塔在新闻发布会上描绘了画一个可能出现的惨淡景象——一只徒有其表的军队。他说：“就好像一艘没有水手的船，一支没有弹药的部队，一个没有足够训练有素的飞行员的空军。它只是一个纸老虎，只不过是一个由兵营，各种建筑，弹药，和新兵蛋子组成的乌合之众。”在他关于五角大楼的公开评论中，他声称：“这是一个士气低沉，装备老旧，无法保持与潜在对手势均力敌的军队。事实上，它正在遭受侵略。”
在帕内塔给麦凯恩与格雷厄姆的信的附录中，帕内塔详细说明了削减预算如何会产生巨大的危险：应对危机、战争，灾难能力的迟滞；对美军前沿部署和全球到达能力的严格限制；增加未来战争行动的危险。
帕内塔还说，一些大型武器系统项目面临削减，这其中包括那些已经完成测试和仍在前期计划中的项目。这份名单中包括F35联合攻击机，一种新型炸弹，下一代弹道导弹核潜艇，滨海战斗舰以及陆军和海军陆战队计划用来代替悍马的地面作战车辆。
停止F35项目的进一步发展和测试活动可以在未来十年减少800亿美元的支出。但是该项目的支持者认为F35是空军升级以及应对来自中国和其他对手潜在威胁的至关重要的一步，
【原文】：
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta turned up the heat on Congress Monday, warning that looming automatic budget cuts would undermine national security and set off a financial chain reaction from the hallways of the Pentagon, to the battlefields of Afghanistan, to civilian assembly lines. The Pentagon already is digesting $450 billion of reductions over the next decade but now fears an additional $600 billion or more in cuts may be imminent if Congress cannot reach a deal on spending. "The impacts of these cuts would be devastating for the department," Panetta said in a letter to Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina. He said that congressional failure to reach a budget agreement and the resulting so-called sequestration would trigger 23% across-the-board reductions and a halt to many new projects. "Such a large cut, applied in this indiscriminate manner, would render most of our ship and construction projects unexecutable -- you cannot buy three quarters of a ship or a building -- and seriously damage other modernization efforts," Panetta wrote to the senators. "We would also be forced to separate many of our civilian personnel involuntarily and, because the reduction would be imposed so quickly, we would almost certainly have to furlough civilians in order to meet the target. These changes would break faith with those who maintain our military and seriously damage readiness." The cuts would eventually hit combat troops, Panetta said. "While wartime funding in the Overseas Contingency Operations accounts is not directly affected by the sequester, war efforts would be adversely affected by the severe disruption in the base budgets," Panetta warned. "Contracting personnel would be cut, resulting in delays in the contracts and the contract oversight that support the war. Payroll personnel would be cut, resulting in late payments to wartime vendors, and legal and policy support would be disrupted." The two senators had written Panetta 10 days ago, asking for details of the potential impact of the automatic cuts on the Defense Department. "The consequence of a sequester on the Defense Department would set off a swift decline of the United States as the world's leading military power. We are staunchly opposed to this draconian action," the senators said in a joint statement Monday afternoon when they released Panetta's letter. "This is not an outcome that we can live with, and it is certainly not one that we should impose on ourselves. The sequester is a threat to the national security interests of the United States, and it should not be allowed to occur." Whether the Panetta letter and the fresh warnings from Senators will increase pressure for a budget compromise or step up calls to exempt the Pentagon from cuts remains to be seen. Panetta has been increasingly outspoken about the possible cuts, although he came to the top Pentagon job with years of budget expertise himself in Congress and the White House and knowing that he was facing tough choices. At a news conference last week, the secretary of defense painted a bleak picture of what could lie ahead -- a military with a shell but no core. "It's a ship without sailors. It's a brigade without bullets. It's an air wing without enough trained pilots. It's a paper tiger, an Army of barracks, buildings and bombs without enough trained soldiers able to accomplish the mission," Panetta said in his opening remarks at the Pentagon. "It's a force that suffers low morale, poor readiness and is unable to keep up with potential adversaries. In effect, it invites aggression.." In an addendum to his letters to McCain and Graham, Panetta spelled out new specifics of how reductions "generate significant operational risks: delay response time to crises, conflicts, and disasters; severely limits our ability to be forward deployed and engaged around the world; and assumes unacceptable risk in future combat operations." And Panetta said that some of the biggest defense projects could face the ax, including those already being tested and some just in early stages of planning. That list included the F35 Joint Strike Fighter, a planned new bomber, the next-generation ballistic submarine, the new littoral combat ship and the new ground combat vehicle the Army and Marines need to replace the humvee. Halting further development and testing the F35 could generate some $80 billion in savings over 10 years but its supporters say it is a vital next step to upgrade and meet potential threats from China and other rivals.
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发表于 2011-11-15 22:10
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发表于 2011-11-15 23:55
