John Hillen, president and CEO of Sotera Defense Solutions, a provider of mission-critical, technology-based systems, solutions and services for national security agencies and programs of the U.S. government, spoke at the recent Sequestration: Scenario Planning event hosted by the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
During his remarks, Hillen noted that Sequestration's impact on national security budgets is an example of bad policy and bad governance that "will not do very much to fix long term budget problems, but certainly stands to cause a lot of policy harm along the way."
Hillen acknowledged that the nation is facing a series of fiscal crises that must be managed but noted that "applying Sequestration to national security in the name of affordability will severely degrade our military capabilities without making a recognizable difference in the long term budget picture." Underscoring this point, Hillen commented, "If we have learned anything from history, a peace dividend never delivers peace for long, but it always delivers unpreparedness."
To make the case for Sequestration as bad governance, Hillen commented on the haphazard manner in which the mechanics of Sequestration have been handled by the government stating, "as a result Sequestration is an unguided missile that could cut programs regardless of their priority or connection to strategic priorities, international obligations, or the nature of our security challenges."
Regarding his advice for those seeking to prepare for the new budget environment Hillen encouraged business leaders to speak up against the cuts, be proactive with government customers, and use scenario planning to understand how Sequestration might affect their business.
