[Satellite TODAY 11-12-10] U.S. President Barack Obama’s recently formed deficit commission issued recommendations Nov. 10 to cut several federal programs that included reduction in defense funding for modernization, procurement and research and development.
    Commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson received widespread criticism for the recommendations, including Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) CEO Marion Blakey, who said the plan’s defense cuts raise grave concerns for the industry.
    “The highest constitutional responsibility of the federal government is to protect the American people from foreign aggression. While we agree that the Pentagon needs to reform its systems in order to achieve greater efficiencies, we cannot abandon the security of future generations. History provides all too many examples where cuts to defense spending were followed by the rise of a threat that we were unprepared to meet,” Blakey said in a statement.
    Blakey added that if the commission’s recommendations in the defense arena are implemented, the U.S. shortage of aerospace engineers would be exacerbated and undercut the capability of the defense industrial base to design, build and support new defense systems.
    The commission’s deadline to deliver a viable plan to the president is Dec. 1.