Pentagon Proposes Missile Defense Cuts

The U.S. Defense Department has proposed budget cuts for advanced weapons systems, including eliminating billions of dollars from the national missile defense program, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2004).

An internal budget defense document for fiscal 2006 shows that the missile defense program, a top defense priority for the Bush administration, would be scaled back by $5 billion, according to the Post.

The U.S. budget deficit and the cost of the conflict in Iraq made the defense cuts necessary, according to Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a member of the Armed Services Committee. The budget document calls for spending reductions of $55 billion over six years in various defense programs (Weisman/Merle, Washington Post, Jan. 5).

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