DOD photo / MC1 Chad J. McNeeley

Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Robert Hale discussing impending sequestration budget cuts on Wednesday.

“I'm always troubled if we're trying to determine the adequacy of defense budgets based on real dollar levels in a particular year. I mean, I think you need to look at the threats that we face, and they remain quite substantial. I guess complex set of security challenges is the word. And therefore I don't think returning to some arbitrary past number for defense makes sense.”
— Pentagon comptroller Robert Hale, explaining Wednesday why the Pentagon isn't able to live with the sequester-imposed budget cuts that would return it to its 2007 level of defense spending.
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