Word: pentagon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...last July 2. By profession an economist and military strategist, the tall, pipe-smoking Schlesinger demonstrated deft and tough skills in administration and problem solving in his previous jobs as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and director of the Central Intelligence Agency (see box page 16). At the Pentagon, he has set two goals for himself: 1) to overcome the legacy of the Viet Nam War, which has left the services top-heavy with brass, depressed in morale and saddled with a so far faltering volunteer system as a replacement for the draft; and 2) to enable the American...
Last year Congress ordered the Pentagon to trim 43,000 men from the military; Schlesinger intends to cut 58,000 by July. His budget for 1975 does add one new brigade to the Army but requires the 4,000-5,000 men to be drawn from existing noncombat ranks. Schlesinger also is considering more base cutbacks. Last spring then-Secretary of Defense Elliot Richardson announced that 274 military installations in the U.S. would be closed, reduced or consolidated to save $350 million a year. Schlesinger has ordered the services to recommend this spring enough other bases that could possibly...
Schlesinger says that the Pentagon "cannot guarantee the success of a volunteer Army" but will make every effort to make it work. As an inducement to volunteers, Congress has approved bonuses?$2,500 for a high school graduate enlisting for four years in a combat arm, $15,000 to a doctor who signs up?and has dramatically raised military pay. It now costs taxpayers $12,448 a year to maintain each person in uniform, compared with $3,443 in 1950. In all, the volunteer force has added $3.1 billion a year to the Pentagon budget. Manpower now accounts...
Dwindling Reserves. Pentagon costs have also sharply escalated because of the energy crisis. In 1973 the military spent $1.6 billion for fuel; next year it estimates the cost at $3.1 billion, despite a drop of about 17% in usage. The savings were accomplished by such measures as cutting the time spent by ships at sea by as much as 20% and military flying time by 18%. Schlesinger says that there has been "some degradation of readiness," even though in the event of a war the military could commandeer fuel from civilians. Still, the cutoff of Middle East oil caused reserve...
...spent on defense in 1964. Pentagon spending for 1975 also would amount to only 27.2% of the planned federal budget for the year, down almost one percentage point from this year. In 1964 42¢ of every federal dollar went for defense...