Politico: The Pentagon doesn’t have enough money to cover the costs of its military reinforcements in the Middle East
Politico reported that the military reinforcements carried out by the United States in the Middle East region after Hamas attack on October 7, led to the use of funds from ongoing operations and maintenance accounts.
These recent actions forced the military departments and the US Central Command to re-evaluate the requirements of current and future operations based on developments in the conflict.
In this context, the US Department of Defense issued directives to transfer aircraft carriers, air defense systems, combat aircraft and other forces to the Middle East region, starting on October 7th.
“Due to the unplanned nature of troop movements in the Middle East, the Pentagon has been used to withdraw funds from ongoing operations and maintenance accounts,” department spokesman Chris Sherwood told Politico.
Sherwood stressed that this measure led to a lack of financial resources available for training, exercises and deployment operations that were already planned for this year.
This could also cause some contractual payments to be delayed, he noted.
Politico explained, that challenge lies in the dysfunction in Congress, as the Pentagon lacks sufficient funding to cover the costs of strengthening forces.
The US army is currently relying on temporary funding measures that freeze spending at the previous year’s levels.
In this context, senior Pentagon officials warn of the negative impact that temporary funding measures have on the readiness of forces year after year.
They point out that implementing temporary funding measures prevents the administration from starting new programs or paying costs that exceed the previous year’s levels.
So far, the US Department of Defense is working to estimate the cost of the US support provided to Israel after the October 7 attack.
Politico pointed out that the Pentagon now bears the burden of supporting two wars at the same time, in Ukraine and Israel.
