Shaffer 'not optimistic' defense budget will grow in future years

SAN DIEGO -- One of the Pentagon's top weapons buyers today said he is "not terribly optimistic" the defense budget will grow in future years, but rather the country will have "enormous pressure" to spend money paying down the national debt.

Alan Shaffer, deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said in future years the biggest discretionary part of government spending will be "servicing the debt," or in other words: paying off interest.

"We're going to have enormous pressure on reducing the debt which means that defense spending -- I'd like to tell you it's going to keep going up. I'm not terribly optimistic," he told attendees today at the AFCEA West conference.

Asked what that means for the Pentagon, Shaffer said the Defense Department will have to make a "stronger effort" to determine which programs will have the most significant impact.

"I believe defense needs more money to do what we're being asked to do," he said.

"I'm going to continue to advocate for more budget. I’m not terribly optimistic I’ll get it," he continued.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office projects the cost of paying interest on the national debt will eclipse defense spending beginning in 2025.

The comments from Shaffer, a top Pentagon official with oversight of the department's most expensive programs, come at a time when the fiscal year 2020 budget has been in flux.

Media reports over the past several months have indicated a range of possible budget requests. Those figures have ranged from $700 billion, a cut that would force Pentagon leaders to make difficult decisions, despite ambitious forward-looking goals such as a 355-ship Navy, to $750 billion, an increase compared to historical year-over-year spending hikes.