Defense Secretary William Cohen and the Joint Chiefs of Staff will argue in a meeting with Clinton that the $250 billion defense budget may need annual supplements of up to $15 billion for several years unless major weapons programs can be cut or overseas deployments curtailed, U.S. officials said yesterday.
These arguments represent a marked change in tune for the Pentagon leadership, which has contended that the military could get by on the flat budgets that are called for under Congress' balanced budget agreement.
But there have been increasing complaints that tight budgets were hurting efforts to recruit and keep military personnel, threatening major procurement programs and causing shortages of spare parts.
Meanwhile, it has become clear that the Pentagon would not be saving as much money as it hoped by closing unneeded bases, streamlining the defense bureaucracies and implementing other efficiencies.
"The uniformed folks at the Pentagon are now viewing all this as a lot more serious," said one Senate aide. "They see a train wreck coming."
The arrests, carried out Saturday, ended the most extensive espionage organization involving Cuban agents ever uncovered here, U.S. Attorney Thomas Scott said. He described the efforts of the eight men and two women as an attempt "to strike at the very heart of our national security system."
Congressional sources told The Associated Press that the arrests were timed to thwart a planned operation by Cuban agents. But officials at a news conference here said they were not aware of any such plan. They would not comment on why the arrests came at this time or on what sort of damaging information, if any, might have been
collected by the Cubans under arrest.
Among other things, the group of clandestine agents allegedly infiltrated several anti-Castro organizations in Miami and Dade County, including Brothers to the Rescue and the Democracy Movement.
Gingrich, who will continue to use his personal funds, is due to make payments in November and January to pay off the remaining $200,000 he owes.
"Representative Gingrich has informed the committee that he will not require any funds from former Sen. Robert Dole. ... Mr. Gingrich has executed a release of Sen. Dole from any and all obligations pursuant to the loan agreement," said the panel.
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