The Pentagon needs to take prompt action to bring its spending under control to stave off the kind of “drastic” defence cuts happening in Britain and Germany, according to Mike Mullen, the most senior US military official.

美国最高军事长官麦克•马伦(Mike Mullen)表示，五角大楼需要立即采取行动将开支限制在可控范围之内，才能避免像英国和德国一样“大幅”削减国防开支。

Referring to the 20 per cent or more cuts recently announced by America’s European allies, Admiral Mullen said the Pentagon had only a limited opportunity to act before similar changes would be imposed upon it given the sharply rising level of US national debt.

马伦将军表示，鉴于美国的欧洲盟国最近宣布削减20%乃至更多的国防开支，并且由于美国国债总额激增，五角大楼必须抓紧有限的机会才能避免类似的变动。

In a video interview with the Financial Times, he said: “If we do not figure out how to manage ourselves inside this growing challenge [of fiscal austerity] then I do worry that it won’t be too long before those kinds of cuts will be part of our future as well, and that would be very dangerous.”

他在接受英国《金融时报》的视频采访时说：“如果我们不能在日益严峻的（财政紧缩）挑战之下想办法管好自己，那么我真的担忧在不久之后的未来，我们也会面临类似的开支缩减，而那会非常危险。”

Admiral Mullen, who is also senior military adviser to Barack Obama, US president, reiterated his view that America’s biggest national security challenge was posed by rising public debt, projected to reach 90 per cent of gross domestic product by 2018.

马伦将军也是美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)的高级军事顾问，他重申自己的观点称，美国国家安全最大的挑战来自于高涨的政府债务。预计到2018年政府债务将达到国内生产总值(GDP)的90%。

“What I am really speaking to is the need for those of us in the Pentagon to be very smart about how we approach this and recognise that we [account for] about 50 per cent of the discretionary spending that’s available in this government,” he said. The US defence budget next fiscal year is $567bn (€435bn), excluding operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Admiral Mullen refused to be drawn on how many US troops would remain in Afghanistan after the withdrawal began next July but hinted that the level would be significant.

他说：“我想说的是，我们这些在五角大楼的人需要开动脑筋想出解决方案，而且要意识到我们（占用着）政府全部机动开支中的一半。”美国下一财年的国防预算为5670亿美元（合4350亿欧元），该数额尚不包含在阿富汗和伊拉克执行任务的开销。马伦将军拒绝透露明年7月份开始撤军后将在阿富汗保留多少驻军，但他暗示规模可观。