Defense Secretary Robert Gates is going to be announcing up to half a dozen major weapons cancellations later this month, including a new Navy Destroyer, the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jet and Army ground-combat vehicles according to two defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. And according to them, this will be the first of at least two rounds of cuts made this year, though neither are guaranteed to pass. During the Bush administration, Cheney tried not once but four times to cancel the Marine Corps’ V-22 Osprey aircraft. But Congress reversed the decision each time. As William S. Cohen, a former Republican Senator from Maine and Defense secretary under Clinton, puts it, “There are so many people employed in the industry and they are spread across the country. Even though members of Congress may say, ‘It’s great that you are recommending the termination of X, Y, and Z,’ they will also say ‘that means 4,000 jobs in my state. Frankly, I can’t go along with that.’”
