The Harvard credentials and degrees in physics from Yale and Oxford notwithstanding, Obama’s characterization of Carter as “one of the few people who actually understands how many of our defense systems work” does not rest comfortably with his record in the Pentagon.
Today’s poster children for failing weapons programs prospered with Carter as under secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology and then as deputy secretary of defense. Among the unhappy examples of how not to select and buy weapons are the Navy’s grotesquely over-cost $14-billion new aircraft carrier and the $23-billion Littoral Combat Ship program.
The Defense Department has found that the LCSs cannot survive in serious combat, are all too frequently inoperable, and at $680 million apiece are way over budget. But both the carrier and the LCS program prospered under Carter.
Similarly, Carter recommended little more than a makeover for the world’s most expensive program, the $400-billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
More:
The Triumph of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex
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