Life is full of surprises

Today's first surprise is the existence within the Pentagon of something called the Defense Business Board, which seems to be a group of people, including non-military people, that I guess have finally decided to speak out against the swollen defense budgets. The board feels that the budget for the Pentagon is not sustainable.

The board finds it hard to see how - when the economy is falling apart - we can increase the armed forces b y 70,000 and continue to countenance such poor performance in building new weapons systems as

• the Army's new combat vehicle system which is budgeted at $160 billion yet seems to be more of a wish than a practicality
• the Navy's development of new ships which are 8 years late in reaching production
• the Air Force's running at 50% over budget for new planes.