BAE Systems Inc president rallies troops in sequestration battle

BAE Systems Inc president and chief executive officer Linda Hudson issued an open letter to employees and the public on 31 January seeking to garner grass-roots support for the company's battle against sequestration of the US defence budget.

The letter praised efforts by US-based employees in lobbying the government to avert the 1 January 2013 fiscal deadline, which was postponed by lawmakers for two months, while asking BAE Systems Inc employees to again contact their representatives requesting sequestration of the country's defence budget be cancelled.

US legislation passed on 1 January does not achieve the USD1.2 trillion deficit reduction required under a 2012 agreement between lawmakers and the White House. However, Congress on the same day agreed to delay by two months the sequestration mechanism that would have gone into effect on 2 January. That deadline was pushed to 1 March, but the law also said sequestration "shall be evaluated and implemented" on 27 March, which coincides with the expiration date for the Pentagon's current stop-gap funding measure in place while the department awaits enaction of Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) funding bills.