Pentagon officials were scrambling today to try to avoid a 1 percent reduction to the Defense Department's topline budget for fiscal year 2007 and beyond, a situation that might require Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to appeal directly to the White House, according to government officials. At press time, Pentagon Comptroller Tina Jonas was reportedly in negotiations with the Office of Management and Budget, trying to argue that DOD already has reduced its budget by 1 percent or about $4 billion,...
