Pentagon group: Budget 'unsustainable'

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- An internal Pentagon advisory group is urging U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to scale back expensive and troubled weapons programs.

According to documents obtained by The Boston Globe, the Defense Business Board has determined current levels of military spending are "not sustainable" if vital defense needs are to be met in an era of global financial crisis.

The group says the U.S. Defense Department must concentrate dwindling future resources on such pressing priorities as rebuilding ground forces battered by multiple war-zone tours to Iraq and Afghanistan and expanding service ranks to counter terrorism, the Globe reported.

Although the group didn't name the weapons programs to be cut, defense analysts told the newspaper they could include such prized but costly programs as the new F-35 fighter jet, Navy ship programs and an Army project to build a new generation of ground combat vehicles.

"The areas most likely to get cut are acquisition and procurement," said Steven Kosiak of the non-partisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "As long as the administration is committed to increasing troop strength you have to pay those people costs, and there is not a lot of flexibility when it comes to benefits."