The far left, Washington DC based Institute for Policy Studies has produced a shopping list of proposed defense cuts for the Obama Administration.
IPS comments on a report issued by Lawrence Korb of the George Soros funded Center for American Progress, and IPSer Miriam Pemberton:
In case anyone in Congress is looking for a quick $77 billion in savings, we thought it would be good to list the proposed reductions to the 2012 fiscal year’s military budget in the Unified Security Budget task force report that IPS released last month:
1. National Missile Defense: Cease further Missile Defense development but retain a basic technology program to determine if NMD is technically feasible, generating $3.6 billion in savings.
2. Virginia Class Submarine: Cancel production of the second SSN-744 Virginia Class submarine in FY2012 and in subsequent years, saving $2.41 billion in 2012 and $11.32 billion through 2016.
3. V-22 Osprey: Cancel the V-22 Osprey program for savings of $2.79 billion in FY2012.
4. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: Cut the Navy and Marine Corps versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, and reduce procurement for Air Force version by half, saving $5.6 billion.
5. Personnel: Reduce the number of active-duty personnel stationed in Europe and Asia, allowing for savings of $6.5 billion in 2012.
6. Nuclear Forces: Reduce nuclear weapons arsenal to 292 deployed weapons and 19 in reserve and eliminate the Trident II nuclear missile, generating $21 billion in savings.
7. Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation: Reduce RDT&E across the board from $74.3 to $65.3 billion, saving $10 billion.
8. Force Structure: Cut two active component air wings, two carrier battle groups and their associated air wings from the Air Force for an annual savings of $8 billion.
9. Waste and Inefficiencies: Use waste and efficiency savings identified across the department to reduce the budget saving $20 billion.
This is no mere leftie “wish list.”
The Institute for Policy Studies has served as an ideas factory for several Democratic Administrations – particularly during the Carter years and to a lesser degree under Clinton.
Barack Obama himself helped set up an IPS partner organization in 1999/2000, the New York based Demos.
It was IPS that first suggested (before Obama had even won the 2008 election) that Obama hire radical communist Van Jones as his “Green Jobs Czar.” Van Jones was also, like Obama, a Demos trusteee.
After Jones was exposed (initially by this blog) and left the White House under considerable media pressure, he ended up working for the Center for American Progress.
In my opinion, Center for American Progress is the implementation wing -a mechanism for infiltrating ‘progressive’ staffers and radical ideas into the Obama administration.
My bet is that most, if not all of IPS’s proposed defense cuts, WILL become Obama Administration policy.
Any takerS?
The full report, by Korb and Pemberton can be viewed here.
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