THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 5, 1996 TAG: 9609050344
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 79 lines
Three heavy hitters from the military's golden years of growth warned Wednesday that more defense cuts are likely as the nation settles into a peace-keeping posture and looks to spend tax revenues elsewhere.
Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, retired chief of naval operations; former Navy Secretary John Lehman; and retired Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Carl E. Mundy Jr. told more than 500 military and civilians at a seminar here that there will be more changes in the complexion of the defense industry.
Appearing on a U.S. Naval Institute-sponsored panel at the Pavilion Conference Center in Virginia Beach, the former leaders had little encouragement for a military they believe will face severe reductions.
``I don't like it too much, and I don't think you'll like it too much,'' said Kelso, who retired in 1994 after a 38-year career. ``The Navy is likely to get smaller in ships and aircraft,'' he said.
Kelso asserted that pressure to spend scarce federal dollars on other programs will be so strong that it will be impossible to maintain existing forces.
``I predict the Navy will get smaller. We are not going to be in as many places, or as often. You can make a choice to stay there and not come home. But as we saw in the 1970s, people will walk with their feet and we'll again have a 20,000-member shortfall in our petty officers.''
Lehman, who served six years as Navy secretary during the Reagan administration, said the military's first priority should be attracting high-quality people.
``I see very disturbing trends,'' he said, noting that traditionally those who want to serve in the military are either interested in changing it or interested in being a part of it.
``I think the greatest challenge . . . in the peacetime military is a trend to become a bureaucracy. And the people attracted to that service tend to be not doers, or challengers, or the changers, but people who are looking for a status and secure career.''
Quoting Winston Churchill from 1936, Lehman said: ``If democracy ever allows a gulf to grow between fighting services and the intellectual elite, you will find the thinking done by cowards and the fighting done by fools.
``That illustrates the trend I see very definitely.''
Lehman said he sees no chance for an increase in the defense budget, ``regardless of which presidential candidate wins the election.''
Mundy, who commanded the Marine Corps from 1991-95, also retiring after a 38-year career. He said his branch downsized during his last five years of service.
``Downsizing simply isn't the right discussion for the Navy and Marine Corps that are facing the national security framework before us,'' he said.
While technology will change how the military works and efficiencies will allow the numbers to come down, the fundamental requirements of the Marine Corps will not change, he said.
``If anything, we have wrongsized,'' he said.
Both Kelso and the late Adm. Mike Boorda, his successor as chief of naval operations, ``tried to shape our forces for relevance under this mandated fiscal downsizing,'' Mundy said.
Yet, said Mundy, there will be additional reviews of the military's posture next year by the Pentagon and Congress.
``To downsize further (would damage) the nation's force and readiness. . .
All three panelists predicted that military hardware in the future will be difficult, if not impossible, to replace at the needed levels.
Marine Corps Gen. John J. Sheehan, commander of the U.S. Atlantic Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, warned in his keynote address Wednesday that the nearly $40 billion being spent annually to purchase ships, tanks and planes is too little and will eventually leave the nation with an obsolete arsenal.
To prevent that would require $109 billion a year, said Sheehan.
The symposium, open to the public, will resume today, with Adm. Leighton W. Smith, former commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Allied Forces, Southern Europe, addressing the group at 9 a.m. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot
Carol Berge talks shop with Store Keeper Master Chief Pete Thielen
at the Electric Boat Corp. exhibit at the Naval Warfare Exposition
and Symposium on Wednesday at the Pavilion Conference Center in
Virginia Beach. by CNB