Panetta Warns of US Defense Budget Disaster

 THE PENTAGON - U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Leon Panetta says he is very concerned about the possibility of a major cyber attack that he says could paralyze U.S. government and financial systems.  The warning came as Panetta cautioned U.S. lawmakers against major cuts to the defense budget. 

The Pentagon has already agreed to cut $450 billion from its budget over a period of ten years.  It faces an additional $500 billion in cuts under an automatic mechanism² known as sequestration after members of Congress failed to reach an agreement to reduce the nation’s deficit³.  

Secretary Panetta and the top U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, went before members of the Senate to make a case against the cuts, which they said would result in job losses and funding for operations including those in Afghanistan. 

Panetta warned the cuts would spell disaster for U.S. defense. “It would guarantee that we hollow out our force and inflict⁴ severe damage on our national defense. I think you all recognize that sequester⁵ would be entirely⁶ unacceptable and I really urge both sides to work together to try to find the kind of comprehensive solution that would de-trigger sequester and try to do this way ahead of this potential disaster that we confront," he said. 

The Defense Secretary warned of another possible disaster:  a cyberattack on the nation’s vital information systems, one with a magnitude similar to Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that triggered the U.S. entry into World War II.  

Panetta said America’s enemies are developing cyber capabilities⁷ and are attempting hundreds of attacks each day on the country’s key systems. He said the U.S. military is working to stay prepared. 

“I’m very concerned that the potential in cyber to be able to cripple our power grid⁸, to be able to cripple our government systems, to be able to cripple our  financial systems would virtually paralyze this country and as far as I’m concerned that represents the potential for another Pearl Harbor  as far as the kind of attack that we could be the target of using cyber," he said. 

Defense officials also raised concerns about their ability to pay for unbudgeted items including the cost of rerouting supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan as Pakistan’s closure of supply routes continues.  

Panetta said the cost of sending supplies into Afghanistan through alternate routes is about $100 million a month.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

3 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

4 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

5 sequester   

vt.使退隐，使隔绝

参考例句：

• Everything he owned was sequestered.他的所有财产都被扣押了。
• This jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months.预计这个陪审团将至少被隔离两个月。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。