USATODAY.com - Proposed boost for Pentagon among biggest

USATODAY.com - Proposed boost for Pentagon among biggest

Proposed boost for Pentagon among biggest
By Steve Komarow, USA TODAY
President Bush proposed Monday a 6.9% boost in the Pentagon's budget authority, to $439 billion. The total does not include the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The budget pays for a variety of initiatives to fight terrorism or prevent the attacks of terrorists and insurgents, the biggest current threat.

It also maintains big-ticket weapons, such as its missile defense system and "traditional" war weapons such as ships, tanks, the F-22 fighter jet and the V-22 Osprey aircraft, said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"We have been very successful in deterring the threat from large armies, navies and air forces," said Rumsfeld. "Those threats haven't disappeared."

In essence, there were few surprises in the documents titled "Shifting Emphasis in an Era of Surprise," said Steven Kosiak of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an independent military research group.

"Interesting rhetoric ... but the really big (weapons) modernization were left untouched," Kosiak said.

The Pentagon budget proposes in fiscal 2007:

• $10.4 billion on missile defense.

• $15.1 billion on aircraft, including the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 fighter, the V-22 helicopter/airplane hybrid for the Marines, and new helicopters for the Army.

• $11.2 billion on new Navy ships.

• A 2.2% boost in troop pay, bringing the cumulative increase since 2001 to 29%.

• $1.7 billion for 322 more unmanned aircraft, including a bigger version of the Predator drone used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The budget for commando forces such as the Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Delta Force would increase by about $1 billion, to $5.1 billion.

Over five years, the number of those highly trained troops would increase from the current 50,000 to about 64,000.

Most new training, specific for anti-terrorism missions would be modest in cost compared to the big weapons. For example, the budget allocates $181 million for language and cultural training programs, about the price of a single F-22 fighter.

The cost of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq is in addition to the base Pentagon budget. Congress has been paying for those operations in separate spending bills. Last week, the administration announced it would ask for an additional $70 billion for the current fiscal year, bringing the total to $120 billion through Sept. 30.

In his fiscal 2007 budget, the president includes $50 billion in anticipated war expenses. Josh Bolten, White House budget director, said that figure is likely to rise.

Among the few trims in Pentagon costs is a proposal to raise the fees on health care for military retirees who have not yet reached the age of 65.

With war costs added to the base budget, the Pentagon's spending plan is the largest since 1952 and the height of the Korean war, in inflation-adjusted dollars, Kosiak said. He questioned whether the Pentagon could continue to avoid making choices between its ambitious weapons-buying programs.

Rumsfeld said the Pentagon budget wouldn't overload the U.S. economy.

"It's small as a percentage of gross domestic product, at 3.7% or 3.8%," Rumsfeld said. "When I first came to Washington" in 1963, "we were spending 10% of GDP on defense."