Carter Warns Future Defense Spending Uncertainty Dangerous to US Strategy

The uncertainty surrounding the Department of Defense’s yearly spending as a result of congressional budget caps, also known as sequestration, affects the US military’s efficiency and is harmful to US strategy, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said in farewell remarks on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The budget control act, signed into law by outgoing President Barack Obama in 2012, imposed defense spending caps and slashed the budget by approximately $25 billion during 2012.

"Making indiscriminate cuts is managerially inefficient and therefore wasteful to taxpayers and industry and it’s dangerous for our strategy" Carter told Defense Department personnel.

The budget caps were implemented in an attempt to cut overall government spending by $500 billion in ten years.

Carter had noted earlier that the US Congress has failed to pass a defense appropriations bill in time for the 12 month fiscal year for close to a decade.

Moreover, he had said the Defense Department and other agencies have struggled against the impact of the budget caps for four years.

In his Wednesday farewell address, Carter characterized the defense budget uncertainty due to sequestration as "shameful."

Prior to serving as defense secretary, Carter also served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during President Bill Clinton's first term.