Leon Panetta warns that the budget is our most dangerous national security issue.
Leon Panetta, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during a lecture on Thursday at the University of Montana indicated that the “budget” – not terrorism is the primary problem facing the United States:
“Our most dangerous national security issue is our inability to deal with the budget,” said the man who’s also directed the Central Intelligence Agency and Office of Management and Budget, and chaired the U.S. House Budget Committee. “We need tax reform and a budget deal that tells us where the U.S. is going. If we cannot fix this, we will not be a strong nation in the future. We will be a nation in decline.”
Panetta, spoke at the University of Montana’s annual Jones-Tamm Judicial Lecture, was responding to a question by Washington, D.C., attorney Robert Bennett, who had asked what the U.S. military might “look like in the next 10 to 15 years.”
Panetta said he for sees a much smaller, agile, high-tech force that can protect America’s place in the world. But he said “uncertainty” over what kind of budget will be available year-to-year makes it impossible to build strategic plans.
“We have special forces that can take on any enemy in the world,” Panetta said. “We can operate in space and with cyber and unmanned systems. But it won’t be there if we don’t deal with the budget issue.”
Source: Ex-CIA boss: Biggest US dangers are within http://helenair.com/news/local/ex-cia-boss-biggest-us-dangers-are-within/article_bc054ca8-cc38-11e3-90bd-001a4bcf887a.html