Breadcrumbs

The thrust of the Pentagon's fiscal year 2011 budget request, due to be unveiled Monday, should come as no surprise, Defense Secretary Robert Gates' spokesman Geoff Morrell said yesterday.

"We've been leaving a trail of breadcrumbs . . . over the past several years in terms of where the secretary was heading in terms of reforming the defense budget," he said. "You saw in dramatic fashion last April when he announced the FY-10 budget proposals, and I think you will see FY-11 continue to build upon the reforms and the rebalancing that were first put forth in the '10 budget."

"But I don't think there will be any surprises in terms of where, philosophically, we are headed," he added. "This is very much about building upon the progress that was made in the ((FY-10)) budget and continuing the rebalancing so that there is focus on our forces and their families; that there is a greater commitment of resources necessary to win the wars that we are currently fighting; while at the same time obviously doing the prudent kind of planning for deterring or if necessary fighting future perhaps conventional conflicts against near peers. And that's the trajectory we've been on, and that's the one we'll continue to head on."

Given the fiscally constrained environment, DOD has made some "hard choices," he noted. "There are things that will be cut and things that will be added to, to achieve the proper balance that the secretary believes we must have."