Defense officials mum on budget

[unhappycamper]

Defense officials mum on budget
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, February 26, 2009

ARLINGTON, Va. — The first rule of the defense budget is you do not talk about the defense budget.

At the request of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, top defense officials have signed a nondisclosure agreement prohibiting them from talking about the budgeting process, said Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell.

"This is highly sensitive stuff, involving programs costing tens of billions of dollars, employing hundreds of thousands of people, and (going) to the heart of our national security," Morrell told reporters Wednesday.

Gates himself has signed the nondisclosure agreement, which is meant to foster an atmosphere of candor among those crafting the defense budget by reassuring them that their conversations will not be leaked, Morrell said.

"Ultimately this product … (has) got to be judged as a whole, so if bits and pieces leak out, you start to tug on these strings, and the whole thing could unravel," he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60978



uhc comment: Cheney Energy Task Force, part duex.