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?