THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160644
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN DIAMOND, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Blaming the expense of foreign peacekeeping missions, the Clinton administration acknowledges it is slipping in one of its highest military priorities: maintaining the readiness of the fighting force.
In a hastily arranged news conference Tuesday, Pentagon officials said five of 12 Army divisions are below the top level of combat readiness, three of them to a point where they suffer ``increases in vulnerability'' and require ``significant compensation'' to make up for deficiencies.
No immediate threat to the safety of the nation looms as a result of the problem, senior Pentagon officials said. The three divisions that received poor readiness grades are backup forces that would relieve the leading edge of a U.S. battle force weeks or months into a conflict. The other two are slightly below the top readiness level.
Still the Pentagon, citing security concerns, refused to identify the divisions involved.
The announcement, coming only hours after the Pentagon spokesman said readiness ``remains at a high level,'' left President Clinton open to criticism from congressional Republicans that he is neglecting the military.
Defense Secretary William Perry, in a letter notifying congressional leaders of the below-par divisions, said a slow response by Congress to supplemental funding requests by the administration contributed to the problem.
``When we do not have rapid approval of these appropriations, we put our readiness at risk,'' Perry wrote. He complained of a ``lag of several months'' this year between the administration's request for additional funds and congressional approval of them.
The letter was sent to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees and defense appropriations subcommittees.
For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Congress provided $1.5 billion out of $1.7 billion requested by the administration to cover unexpected military costs. In January, the Pentagon will go to the Republican-controlled Congress to ask for an as yet unspecified additional amount.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who heads a Senate panel studying the readiness issue, blamed the Clinton administration for failing to budget enough money up front for both military training and overseas deployments. McCain termed current readiness ``terrible, very poor.''
The occupation of Haiti, the Rwanda relief effort, Navy operations off Cuba, and the deployment of forces to the Persian Gulf all fell on the Pentagon budget this summer and fall - late in the federal fiscal year when money is running low. To cover the costs, the Pentagon had to cut drastically into military training.
Perry said most of the affected units recovered quickly, but three ``heavy reinforcing divisions'' of the Army saw their readiness ranking slide.
The Army measures the readiness of its divisions based on the level of training, the availability and condition of equipment and other factors. ``C-1'' is the highest rating; ``C-4'' is the lowest.
One Army rapid deployment division and one armored cavalry regiment are rated ``C-2,'' meaning they have the required resources to meet most wartime contingencies. Three reinforcing divisions are rated ``C-3,'' meaning they perform ``many but not all wartime missions'' and suffer from a ``significant decrease in flexibility and increase in vulnerability.'' The rest of the divisions are rated ``C-1.''
The Army plans to have the lower-rated units up to full readiness by next spring.
``What we're dealing with is a small section of the force that is not as ready as the rapidly deploying force is,'' said Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon. ``It doesn't mean they're just sitting in their barracks not doing anything. They just missed some big training exercises.''
Last month Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch, the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, said U.S. forces are ``more ready and capable than they've ever been,'' including at the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
That statement prompted a rebuke Tuesday from Rep. Floyd Spence, R-S.C., now the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee and soon to be the panel's chairman.
In a letter to Deutch, Spence said there is clear evidence that ``U.S. military units are caught in the early stages of a downward readiness spiral that shows no prospect of easing in the foreseeable future.''
Tuesday afternoon at an unscheduled news conference, civilian Pentagon and Army officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the readiness problem. by CNB