Speechless?

Given that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has required a pledge of silence from everyone participating in the FY-10 budget review, it is hard to imagine that Robert Hale -- the Pentagon comptroller -- might spill the beans.

As soon as this week, Gates is expected to lock in some "hard choices" in the FY-10 budget, decisions that are expected to squeeze the military services' modernization accounts.

But Hale is scheduled to testify tomorrow before the House Budget Committee to discuss the Defense Department's FY-10 budget request. What will he say? What can he say?

After Hale, Michale Sullivan, director of acquisition and source management at the Government Accountability Office, will appear before the committee.