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ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Secretary of the Air Force Deborah James said Friday that sequestration cuts to the defense budget in 2016 would hurt national security. Speaking at the final day of the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium and Technology Exposition in Orlando, Fla., James stressed the need for a larger budget amid downsizing and foreign policy challenges involving the Islamic State and Russia.
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"Our readiness is not sufficiently high," James said. "It's not where we want it to be, especially not for what we call the 'high-end fight' that we might one day have to fight. And of course, everyone knows we're in an austere budget environment. So it truly is almost a perfect storm of factors that are coming together at this point in time."
In 2013, automatic spending cuts known as "the sequester" went into effect due to budget disagreements between President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress. The result was across-the-board funding reductions to several federal programs, including the military.
At his confirmation hearing last week, newly appointed Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called the sequester "risky to our defense," as it "conveys a misleadingly diminished picture of our power in the eyes of friends and foes alike."
James made a similar point Friday.
"We're trying to take the strongest stand to date on sequestration," she said. "Now we have said many many times that sequestration, if it is implemented in Fiscal Year 2016, will damage our national security."
The Department of Defense submitted a $585 billion budget plan to Congress on Feb. 2 -- surpassing the congressionally mandated budget cap of $499 billion for 2016.
Rather than settle for sequestration-level funding, James said, the Air Force submitted a budget with an additional $10 billion, which more closely fits its operational requirements.
"To put it another way, our budget proposal actually busts the sequestration caps," she said, adding that the funds are the "difference between an air force that our combatant commanders require and our nation expects, as compared with an air force that with $10 billion less will not be able to meet the defense strategy. Period. We cannot do it with $10 billion less, as currently written."
The secretary stressed the importance of "the taxpayer dollar," saying it "is precious, and we can't afford to waste a single dollar of it," but further noted that Air Force services, including airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria, as well as humanitarian and space operations, are in high demand.
"Everybody wants more Air Force," she said. "All of this is happening at precisely the time when we have reduced end strength to the point of actually making us the smallest Air Force that we've ever been since our birth in 1947."
James also pointed out the average age of the branch's aircraft is 27 years, the oldest in Air Force history.
"These are all serious facts; there's no ignoring these facts," James said. "We are the best on the planet, but we are also an air force under strain. And something's got to give."
