{"id":53699,"date":"2020-12-02T19:14:12","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T19:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/02\/milley-budget-reality-check-may-impact-foreign-exercises-basing-plans\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:59:20","slug":"milley-budget-reality-check-may-impact-foreign-exercises-basing-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2020\/12\/02\/milley-budget-reality-check-may-impact-foreign-exercises-basing-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Milley: Budget \u2018reality check\u2019 may impact foreign exercises, basing plans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Pentagon planners need a \u201creality check\u201d about future defense budgets and must accept that military dollars may be drying up, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI suspect that, at best, the Pentagon\u2019s budgets will start flattening out<\/a>. There\u2019s a reasonable prospect that they could actually decline significantly, depending on what happens\u201d with the broader economy, Gen. Mark Milley said at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn an ideal world, I believe that we would need 3 percent to 5 percent sustained level of real growth in order to continue the modernization programs and readiness programs, and so on, that we have,\u201d Milley added. \u201cBut that\u2019s also not necessarily going to happen, and I don\u2019t anticipate that it will happen. So we have to \u2014 we the uniforms, we here at the Pentagon, civilian and military alike \u2014 we\u2019ve got to do a quick reality check on the national budget and what is likely to happen in the not too distant future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t