the pentagon has considerable flexibility. it's also, by the way, easy to conceive of an agreement that which would leave the pain of sequestration, including, perhaps, some modest flexibility year over year. the other part of that equation, though, is that unlike all of those other draw downs, we have, today, present as part of the dynamic, the global financial market. we had -- i mean, the reason we got the budget control act and the sequestration reductions is the threat of default. now, i don't remember the exact clock ticking. i think the president submitted his request on the day that the house came back, so that would have been monday a week ago. so the 15 day clock will probably be reached next tuesday. and that means, i presume, on wednesday morning, our debt ceiling as a nation will go up $1.2 trillion, failing the passage by the resolution a disapproval and the override of a suspected president's veto. so the debt ceiling will go up, up until we hit it again. now, when are we going to hit it again? good news this mo

united states since the fall the cold war i mean the pentagon remains enormously. huge as far as the amount of money we spend you know christian keeps talking about you know a percentage of the budget the budget keeps going up though as the budget goes up to three trillion the pentagon share of that budget goes up as well and so we're spending enormous amounts here that could you know go to help the fifty million. people in the united states who don't have health care or we could go to help you know one out of two americans is at or very near the poverty line and we've got a real social problem here and i only wish that barack obama were the socialist the democratic socialist that he is accused of being. for a go if you want to journey to the right. go ahead go ahead christian the peace dividend the dividend of peace is peace and that's what you get to say that you should cut the military whenever you get to a point where it's not quite as urgently needed in the sense that we're not in a war i think that's disingenuous also you know president obama has normalized t

the pentagon between strategy and resources. we usually talk about the strategy of resources mismatch, where we're not spending enough resources to execute the strategy. it's very interesting that we had a base budget that had a strategy, the 2010 quadrennial review defense strategy, it was right there. that defense budget projected a 1% increase in real dollars was flattened, actually not completely flattened, as president obama said, there was a slight increase to the fed's budget, yet we have a new strategy. i've put together along with a colleague of mine, kim wincup of the defense drawdown working group and had a big debate, what is the difference between strategy and strategic guidance? the 5 january strategic guidance, it's really emanating from the 2010 strategy but that was dispelled right away because pa net ta and general dempsey referred to it as a new strategy even though it's a strategictru to the precise priorities within it, but if we had had any doubt whether or not it was a new strategy, it is a newwe the seq $

the press corps for the pentagon and i know that sounds overstated well they serve the pentagon and they're scared to hurt the feeling that we're getting to step on the toes of the right look you know there was a pentagon spokesperson a guy by the name of geoff morrell and you knew geoff morrell was telling the truth because you start to sweat because he'd be lying everywhere all the other time and i was on i had this new radio show and it's like geoff morrell and reporter from mainstream publication i'm not going to mention and they and they sound the same you know and they're complement each other and saying with great jobs are both doing and look like if that's what you want to do you know i'm all for it understand is a lot of different the war going does that keep the public completely in the dark about was signing on in the war i mean this is this is a horrible thing we're now having in the middle of the longest war and u.s. history and you could say that the media might be partly to blame for completely playing along with with all of that one of the things you talk about is th

to look over the pentagon but in fact what has become is that the pentagon press corps is just an extension of the pentagon itself and so you don't have critical coverage which you have coverage is just essentially it's not it's not necessary because sometimes they do break stories but it but it's not the kind of stories that i don't think are two that are very helpful to what did to information people need to know to make informed decision what's the what's the implications for us as people i think the implication is that you need to i mean i question how do you get around it i think my my goal would be to sort of support journalists who are doing the hard work matt matt akins at the atlantic there's a number charlie savage at the new york times glenn greenwald i'm salon who really and there's a number of other journalists who are out there kind of hacking away at this stuff . you sort of you have to sort of support those journalists as well as that the other journalists know you're in on their little game and i'm happy for them you know if they want to have a nice career and write kind of

senior leadership at the pentagon, the u.s. military is in for a big change. it will affect all the american sons and daughters who raised their hands to fight our wars. it will affect the wars this country chooses to fight perhaps. it's a design for a new military in the era after the dual wars we have been fighting. it will be the biggest change in decades. we start our reporting with jim miklaszewski on duty tonight at the pentagon. jim, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. for the first time since 9/11, the pentagon is being forced to tighten its belt. to do that will take wholesale changes in the way the military does business. president obama came to the pentagon today as commander in chief to unveil his new military strategy aimed at cutting the pentagon's budget. the president acknowledged the new military will be leaner but insisted no less meaner. >> the united states is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and th

president obama went to the pentagon to personally announce his plan to slash the budget by $450 million over 10 years. tom fitzgerald has more. >> reporter: this is the first time a president has and in the pentagon briefing room, but the effect of what was said will be anything but brief. >> since 9-11, our defense budget grew at an extraordinary pace. over the next 10 years, the growth it the defense budget will slow. >> reporter: with the iraq war over and afghan drawdown dead, osama bin laden dead and al- qaeda weakened, the president says the pentagon's tactics must change. >> our military will be leaner but the world must know, the united states will maintain our military superiority with forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats. >> reporter: the president wants $489 billion in defense cuts over 10 years. >> can we confront and defeat any enemy that faces us? and the answer to that question is, with the joint force that we are creating here, we can. >> it is not about whether we will fight adversaries as they confront us. it is how.

will reshape the spending of the pentagon and how the united states fights wars. this is the first time the president appeared in a pentagon briefing room, but the affect of what was said will be anything but brief. >> since 9/11, our defense budget grew at an extraordinary pace. over the next 10 years, the growth in the defense budget will slow. >> reporter: with the iraq war over and afghan drawdown planned, osama bin laden dead and al qaeda weakened, the president said the pentagon's tactics and spending must change. >> yes, our military will be leaner, but the world must know the united states is going to maintain our military sow peerior etwith armed forces that are agile, flexible, and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats. >> reporter: the president wants $489 billion in defense cuts over 10 years. the pentagon officials say the goal is to create a smaller, flexible force that can fight traditional wars and mount special operations. >> can we confront and defeat any enemy that faces us? the answer to that question is with the joint force tha

obama administration is not going against the pentagon it's going with the pentagon and even though the republicans will demagogic we attacked their you democrats and obama for being weak on defense i think in fact this has the full support of the military establishment what about his staying power and have you seen plenty of broken promises before from guantanamo to the repeal of bush era tax cuts for the ultra wit ultra rich will he stay but you think this plan well there is no reason not to because this is not a progressive development this is not a step away from war this is not a step towards pacifism or a step towards a retreat from empire building it's actually the use of a military strategy that costs the american political leaders be they obama or whoever takes his place afterwards last on the home front if there are fewer american casualties of all the bleeding is done on the other side of all of the destruction is done by those who are suffering the consequences of the air war they feel that there will be less antiwar sentiment at home so it's not a promise in the progres

so about a third of the pentagon budget. and what they said yesterday is personnel cotsts are only takin 1/9 of the cuts. that means other parts of the budget are going to take a disproportionate share of the cuts. they have a budget cap required by the budget control act they've got to fit in. so procurement i think is actually going to get hit the hardest. we heard a lot of the program decisions yesterday. i imagine there are many more we have yet to hear. and those will come out over the coming days and weeks. the total savings that they're talking about, and again, this is the savings relative to last year's budget, it's $259 billion over the five-year plan. 25% of those savings are supposed to come from efficiencies. that's another $60 billion in efficiencies on top of $178 billion in efficiencies that was in last year's budget. boy, that's very optimistic to think that you can find all those efficiencies. i think it is incredibly risky to be banking on those savings before they have been achieved. it is always a good g

prosecutors say the former marine reservist fired shots at the pentagon and the marine corps museum as well as other military facilities between october and november of 2010. no one was injured in any of those shootings. a court affidavit quotes him in a video that they say that they have saying, "that's what they get, that's my target." the video shows him firing shots and interstate 95 at the marine corps museum. he was arrested in june of last year after it was down after hours at arlington national cemetery with a back pack containing potentially explosive materials and information regarding jihad and osama bin laden. that sparked a big security scare at arlington national cemetery as well as about the pentagon. this hearing is expected to begin at 11:00 this morning. we expect to learn more details. after that, federal investigators are expected to speak to the media with more on this case. reporting live in alexandria brianne carter, abc 7 news. >> prince george's county police are looking for a man who tried to rob a school while classes were in session. police say this man walk

the attempts over the last month or so to a line the white house's own objectives with the pentagon's observes are worth lauding, it's useful to have some alignment, if you will. on the other hand, the political folks need to be more careful, contribution that they can make is to in fact be allowed to do its job, very, very well. and that was the fundamental premise that the branchs of government were set up and set up the friction between the executive and legislative branch, it will benefit us to separate out those things that are being driven for political purpose and those that contribute to the national security of the united states, i'll close my remarks that the point and we will prepare to open the floor for questions, let me remind you of the process, if you will. we have microphones, wait for the microphones so that in fact the audience on the web and on television can hear you as well. you raise your hand i'll recognize you by pointing to you and saying something, wait for the mike, if you do two things, identify yourself by giving me your name and identify your affiliation

of the pentagon uses representing the pentagon like a pr firm. >> how concerned are you that in the future when you want to do it for about the doors will be closed? -- when you want to do a profile, the doors will be closed? >> i am not concerned. when are dedicated to reporting, you find a way to get the story. you find a way to get the story. they knew the story was coming, how tense was it? >> i was back in vermont. duncan had told people this story is either going to be fun or end my career. >> did it? >> he losses job. he resigned. he was a civilian. i think the again took a lot of the -- duncan took a lot of the blame when there is plenty to share. >> who else should take some responsibility? >> admiral smith was in the room of its common spirited mcchrystal knows this. -- was in the room. the general mcchrystal knows this. he was setting the tone for the entire bunch. he is the ultimate operator. he set the tone. >> was there any fact checking that went on from "rolling stone" to the military? >> yes. "rolling stone" is one of the few magazines like that does extensive resea

pentagon budget over the next ten years. what does that mean? well, let's bring in a couple of experts, captain raymond brown is a u.s. navy surface warfare officer and former chief of intelligence ansist for the u.s. coast guard, also with us, rue tired lieutenant colonel mcginnis. we brought new in part because the branches you served face different futures. colonel, the speculation is the army is going to be downsized and the president and secretary of defense didn't give us hard numbers this time around, it was general broadstrokes, the expectation is the army is going to be downsized from 575,000 active duty troops now to about 490,000 over ten years, colonel mcginnis, what do you think about that? >> it's to be anticipated obviously with afghanistan dying down, we're out of iraq. there's an underlying assumption, jon, that the counterinsurgencies we fought there, as well as in africa and the rest of the world against al-qaeda and its morphed alliances is going to dwindle and we won't have to have as many ground forces.

the pentagon submitted a request for more funding. the pentagon is trying to convey this is not an indication of any pending attack. an official telling fox news, we've long said we need the capability they say weapons provide. we're committed to their development and comfortable they'll contributed to all the capabilities. it's a fear the pentagon's acknowledgment of these assets sends a very strong signal to iran. >> indeed. it also shows the defense department is serious about the national security in that region. thank you for that. >>> by the way, plans for the floating base and a more powerful bomb both ambitious undertakings but with cuts to the defense budge budget, the question is will the uss be prepared. in coming up. former general jack keene joins us. >> there was a surprise meeting at the white house we found out about through the white house but it wasn't on the president's schedule. president obama hosting former president george h.w. bush and former florida governor jeb bush. the white house kept it a secret but reali

it's one of the major themes. and coins on the outs. at least the pentagon is reading my material. they finally came around. it only took them a coup ol f years. i've been saying this for years now. >> i'm struck by -- and i don't think i thought about it until i read the book. that america has this long history of celebrity generals. right? george patton, colin powell, stanley mcchrystal and david petraeus is the biggest names of the post- 9/11 wars. now there are new celebrity generals. is that on accident or do you think it's on purpose? >> i wonder if president obama did this by design or if it sort of happened this way in his quest to regain control of the pentagon. petraeus has been defrauded. he's at cia. general mcchrystal -- who is running the war in afghanistan now? you probably know. but some guy named john allen. none of the other generals -- there's no big-time general that can threaten the president's command. >> are you troubled -- not ambivalence but the way that generals do pr. describe the problems with civil affairs as a struggle in the military. and also the sor

street no worries, no delays up to the pentagon. winding down with a look at maryland, outer loop at new hampshire avenue in pretty good shape out of laurel the beltsville and to holy cross hospital. back to you. >> thank you. >>> dog about a wild ride. the driver of a speeding car mr. turner, and then went airborne. the car ended up parked on a roof. it happened yesterday morning in fresno. the car did not damaged the house. -- the speeding car missed a turn and hit something and then went airborne. they had to use a crane to bring the car down and the driver was rescued. he tried to run away. >> >>> 34 degrees outside. >> coming up another bowl game for the record books. the orange bowl score makes the century mark. >> a tax deadline delay. you will have two extra days to get the forms filed on time. >> the cold weather that has been moving through our area caused a lot of problems yesterday. i am jummy olabanji captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >>> want to take a look of the day ended. a rockville

: jennifer griffin at the pentagon. thank you. >>> still ahead, the ron paul effect. first, the latest battle in the war over government spending. the droid razr by motorola. the thinnest 4g lte smartphone. all the power and strength of droid, now in colors. built with a scratch-resistant, gorilla glass screen. plus nano-coating that safeguards against spills. all powered by the speed of verizon 4g lte. more colors, same edge. the droid razr is now $199.99. exclusively from verizon. you wouldn't want your doctor doing your job. so why are you doing hers? only your doctor can determine if your persistent heartburn is actually something more serious... like acid reflux disease. over time, stomach acid can damage the lining of your esophagus. for many, prescription nexium not only provides 24-hour heartburn relief, but can also help heal acid related erosions in the lining of your esophagus. talk to your doctor about the risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels with long-term use of nexium. pos

. >> reporter: the transition from war to peace has proven difficult for the pentagon. it's a time when skills and focus are often lost. this time, the president vowed, would be different. >> we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes that have been made in the past, after world war ii, after vietnam, when our military was left ill-prepared for the future. as commander in chief, i will not let that happen again. not on my watch. >> reporter: the president plans to shift america's military resources, cutting back on europe and the middle east, and beefing up in asia to counter china's growing clout. to save money, more than 100,000 troops could be cut, and purchases of new weapons systems will be delayed. defense analyst tom donnelly says the strategy reflects a bipartisan consensus. >> defense spending is less important to the republicans than keeping tax rates down and less important to the democrats than defending domestic entitlement programs. so, at best, it is everyone's second priority, and a distant second. >> reporter: the pentagon already faces $450 billion in bud

after the cold war ended, the pentagon needed fewer weapons. defense contractors closed, leaving behind empty parking lots and an exodus of engineering talent. defense secretary leon panetta promised this round of cuts will be different. >> maintaining the vitality of the industrial base and avoiding imposing unacceptable cost or risk on our critical suppliers will guide many of the decisions that we have made. >> reporter: in the late '80s, the pentagon relied on more than 30 big defense contractors. now the number is down to a handful, leaving little room for consolidation. defense analyst todd harrision says the pentagon must figure out which companies are critical to national defense. >> so the fear in the pentagon is that, if we lose some critical skills in our industrial base or some critical capacity to manufacture things, that we might not be able to regain it when we really need it in the future. >> reporter: and the pentagon has clearly defined the defense future it wants to fund. unmanned drones, submarines, new stealth bombers and f

the pentagon will shift the focus of the military from morris to future challenges. a number of ground forces will be slashed, mean more pressure on reserves. old planes and ships will be retired, and that is just the beginning. rebecca is live in the newsroom with more. >> today secretary leon panetta said it was tough finding cuts without hurting u.s. troops or un dominance but the secretary did slash spending . the super committee did not get a deal on the deficit. >> secretary panetta warned today's proposed reductions are only half the size of what could happen if congress does not block the cut schedule, there could be even more automatic cuts twice the size. >> we are convinced it would hold out the force and then click severe damage to our national defense for generations. >> companies like boeing in northern virginia. he helped boeing toward their course for the future. >> we think it is an area where there will be gained. >> in this neighborhood, there is concern. major defense contractors are keep life blood in this area. >> we have done well because the d

in landmark and the pentagon and it looks good on the 14th street bridge. back to you. >> thank you. i want to check in with doug hill to find out what we can expect from the rain today. >> we will have heavy downpours this morning and probably a few isolated thunderstorms. not a very typical of january morning. temperature is very warm. gusty wind and a lot of stuff being forced through the atmosphere. look at some of the rainfall totals and temperatures.. 7200 of an inch in madison. meyersville, a little less, 0.3 inches. -- 0.7 to2 inches in madison. there's an area of rain coming through fairfax and another will be winding through frederick county. we will monitor them to see if there's any thunder storm activity. that could develop. watch for showers to spread over the region from west to east ahead of the cold front during the morning. the satellite and radar shows a lot of moisture being forced northward ahead of the cold front. by midday is when the rain will be ending. warm air will be getting squeezed off to the east. gusty wind will develop and t

the pentagon will slash its spending by $489 billion over the next ten years. the army and marine also have to cut more than 100,000 service members. major weapons programs will be cut back or eliminated. for the first time in nearly 20 years, active duty military and retirees will be forced to pay more for health care benefits. >> jim miklaszewski reporting for us there. as we said, the army would face a 14% reduction in troops. >>> republican chairman of the house armed services committee responded to the president's plan saying the president has packaged our retreat from the world. the guise of a new strategy to mask his divestment of our military and national defense. this strategy ensures american decline in exchange for more failed domestic programs. that from buck mckeon. >>> one place feeling the effects of the scaled back military presence is iraq where a string of bombings yesterday killed more than 73 people and wounded more than 100. bombers targeted shiite neighborhoods. it was the second major attack in iraq's capital since american troops left th