Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) released the following statement today after Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that $78 billion of the defense budget will be slashed to fund social programs elsewhere in the President’s budget, despite the fact that Gates said earlier this year that all defense cuts would be reordered within the Department of Defense:

“In the last month, increasingly concerning reports regarding China’s military buildup have surfaced. These include news of China’s development of the DF-21D, a second missile system that is capable of taking out our aircraft carriers, rumors of Chinese plans for double-digit expansion of its defense spending, and reports that China is moving closer to having an operational carrier at some point this year. In 2009, shortly after the Pentagon announced it would discontinue the F-22 program, Secretary Gates predicted that China would not have a stealth fighter by 2020. Yet, this week photos have surfaced of a Chinese stealth fighter participating in high speed taxi tests, a precursor to initial test flights, that according to some, rivals the F-22 and is decisively superior to the F-35.

“How disturbing is it, then, that within the very same week, our own Administration under the leadership of President Obama and Secretary Gates has announced the continued dismantling of the greatest military the world has ever known. If Secretary Gates’ plans and predictions with these defense cuts are as accurate as his Chinese stealth fighter forecasts, Americans ought to be concerned for our national security.

“Even more appalling, though, is the fact that the Administration is not being honest with the threat we face with China or where our defense dollars are going. Last August when Secretary Gates announced his plans to cut $100 billion of the defense budget, he said, ‘Unlike budget cutting efforts of the past, the services will be able to keep the savings they generate to reinvest in higher-priority warfighting and modernization programs.’ At best, this was naivety; at worst, dishonesty.”

Congressman Forbes is Chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee.