US national debt, fiscal uncertainty threaten navy's operational future

The US Navy faces an array of fiscal challenges that will require its leaders to make tough decisions in order to fulfill combatant commanders' demands in the coming years, the service's chief resourcing official said on 27 November.

Vice Admiral John T. Blake, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources (N8), said that, while the current fiscal crisis causes great consternation for him, it is the US national debt that keeps him up at night.

"We're having debates about fiscal realities but no one is discussing the fact that the debt ceiling is encroaching and rapidly approaching, and we're going to have to do something about that," Adm Blake said during a Surface Navy Association event near Washington, DC. "If we do nothing, I don't see how the N8s of the world are going to be able to deal with that, and still meet the requirements we have worldwide."

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the national debt could equal 100% of the US GDP by 2020. Federal debt held by the public reached 73% of the GDP in Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12), which ended 30 September.