Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Reuters.com
March 13, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will skip a NATO summit next month to focus on the defense budget, a Pentagon spokesman said on Friday.
"Secretary Gates will not be traveling to the NATO Summit next month as originally planned," said Geoff Morrell, a spokesman for the Defense Department.
"He had hoped to join President (Barack) Obama in Strasbourg and Kehl to celebrate the alliance's 60th anniversary, but his work on the 2010 budget will not permit him to leave Washington then," Morrell said in an e-mail statement.
"He simply needs more time to review all of our major weapons programs and assess how they fit into his efforts to strategically rebalance the department's budget," Morrell said.
Deputy Comptroller Kevin Scheid said on Wednesday that the Pentagon was examining a range of options to trim its procurement spending by about 2 percent to 3 percent in its budget for fiscal 2010 that begins October 1.
March 13, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will skip a NATO summit next month to focus on the defense budget, a Pentagon spokesman said on Friday.
"Secretary Gates will not be traveling to the NATO Summit next month as originally planned," said Geoff Morrell, a spokesman for the Defense Department.
"He had hoped to join President (Barack) Obama in Strasbourg and Kehl to celebrate the alliance's 60th anniversary, but his work on the 2010 budget will not permit him to leave Washington then," Morrell said in an e-mail statement.
"He simply needs more time to review all of our major weapons programs and assess how they fit into his efforts to strategically rebalance the department's budget," Morrell said.
Deputy Comptroller Kevin Scheid said on Wednesday that the Pentagon was examining a range of options to trim its procurement spending by about 2 percent to 3 percent in its budget for fiscal 2010 that begins October 1.