Army Gen. Martin Dempsey predicted his tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be marked by having to manage smaller defense budgets and transitioning the military from wartime to military readiness.
Even as the United States will continue waging war against terrorism for the next decade, Dempsey said he will have to oversee a transition from a wartime posture to a readiness status geared to respond to any threat worldwide, even as Washington keeps up the fight against violent extremism.
Dempsey, who was sworn in as chairman Sept. 30, made brief remarks yesterday during a luncheon at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference.
“I have to manage the transition from war, or a principally wartime footing, to readiness–principally a readiness footing–but the struggle will persist,” he said.
Dempsey said the Pentagon will manage to weather an expected $450 billion dollars in cuts over the next 10 years.
“We’ve been down this road before, we’ll go down it again,” he said.
He did not comment on the possibility of a trillion-dollar defense spending reduction over the next 10 years that will automatically kick in if a congressional super committee cannot agree by November on a government wide plan to reduce federal spending and rein in the massive deficit. Pentagon officials have characterized such a scenario as potentially devastating to the military and national security.