The Bottom Line On Defense Sequestration: Warfighters Will Die (From Forbes)

The current, antiseptic debate about budget sequestration in the nation’s capital seems largely divorced from its real-world consequences — especially in the case of defense cuts. Last week, defense secretary Chuck Hagel sent an eight-page message to Congress detailing the adverse impact of sequestration on military training and technology investment. However, he waited until his penultimate paragraph to disclose the most salient fact: sequestration will increase the likelihood that U.S. warfighters die in future conflicts. This outcome results not only from the scale and abruptness of cuts mandated in the Budget Control Act, but also from the way in which Congress has limited the ability of Pentagon managers to allocate spending reductions intelligently. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.