Defense Spending, Military Needs and the Federal Deficit

Making News

South Korea Seeks UN Action against Pyongyang ()

South Korea today severed trade with North Korea and asked the UN Security Council to punish the north for deliberately sinking a South Korean ship, killing 46 sailors. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon agreed that measures must be taken and Secretary of State Clinton said in Beijing that South Korea has the full support of the United States.  Mike Chinoy, senior fellow at USC's US-China Institute, is author of Meltdown: the Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis.

Guests:

• Mike Chinoy: Senior Fellow, USC US-China Institute, @mikechinoy

Main Topic

Defense Spending, Military Needs and the Federal Deficit ()

Ever since Dwight Eisenhower warned about "the military-industrial complex," there have been complaints about bloated Pentagon spending. Defense Secretary Robert Gates complains that Congress is, once again, pushing job-creating projects the Pentagon doesn’t want, including a spending bill that includes the C-17 Cargo plane and an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.  But critics say Gates has his own recipe for new spending, a Quadrennial Defense Review that calls for ambitious new missions America can’t afford. If Iraq and Afghanistan wind down as expected, will defense spending increase anyway?  What about getting the deficit under control?

Guests:

• Robert Hale: Undersecretary for Defense and CFO, Defense Department
• Gordon Adams: Former Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs, OMB, @Gadams1941
• Kori Schake: former Director for Defense Strategy, National Security Council
• Daniel Gross: Economic Columnist, Newsweek and Slate, @grossdm

Links:

• Defense Department's FY 2011 budget request
• Adams' on Secretary Gates and discipline at DOD

Reporter's Notebook

We Like Privacy, but We Love Facebook ()

Facebook says the world wants to be "more open and connected," and 400 million people seem to agree. But complaints about privacy have led to promises about new controls, a pattern Facebook watchers have seen before. A week ago, Farhad Manjuoo of Slate.com predicted that CEO Mark Zuckerberg would respond to such concerns with a letter admitting that Facebook has "missed the right balance" between sharing information more freely and sharing too much. Today, Zuckerberg issued a letter saying, "We have heard the feedback…"

Guests:

• Farhad Manjoo: Technology Columnist, Slate magazine, @fmanjoo