Talk around the Beltway never strays far from spending puzzles—the latest, of course, how to pay for Katrina. Analysts project the cost for recovery efforts at nearly $200 billion. Thoughts naturally turn to cuts. Questioned if the Pentagon would have to cut programs to pay its share, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld opined, “There’s no point in speculating.” Of course, speculation already runs high that the Quadrennial Defense Review will be taking hefty cuts on its own.
The first flight of the secretive B-21 bomber has slipped to mid-2022, but the program is moving along well, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director Randall Walden said in an exclusive interview. The second copy of the B-21, which will be used for structural testing, is now on the production…