Pentagon Cost Overruns: Unprecedented?

The New York Times goes in-depth today on the issue of Defense procurement cost overruns. The gist: since 9/11, efforts to rein in the costs of huge weapons programs have fallen by the wayside. The result: Billions of dollars in cost overruns.

The piece includes a quote from House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., that ought to give everyone pause: “Acquisition inefficiencies may, in the end, drive American vulnerabilities more than any other dimension of America’s national security complex.” Lawrence J. Korb, former Pentagon assistant secretary, adds, "It’s always been bad, but I’ve never seen it this bad.”