美国国家公共电台 NPR Pentagon's No. 2 Watches The Money — And The Future

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We've been talking with a man whose job is to help spend $700 billion. That is the approximate size of the military budget after a massive increase. We arranged to meet him inside one of the world's most massive office buildings. Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis led us toward his office down one of the long, long corridors at the Pentagon.

JEFF DAVIS: Six-and-a-half million square feet of office space, and there are about 26,000 people who work here.

INSKEEP: It's the headquarters of a worldwide operation, and the job of overseeing it all falls to Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense². His No. 2 was the man we were walking to meet.

PATRICK SHANAHAN: Steve. Pat Shanahan. Nice to meet you.

INSKEEP: Patrick Shanahan is a former executive at Boeing. He built airplanes. Now he oversees³ an agency that buys thousands of airplanes and other hardware and employs more than 2 million people. It is the nation's largest employer. Decades ago, one of those employees was his father, whose picture is in Shanahan's office.

SHANAHAN: I remember I only saw my dad cry once in his whole life, - he's a real tough guy - and it was right before he went to Vietnam, he left his family.

INSKEEP: Decades later, the younger Shanahan seized on the chance to work for the military as a civilian⁴. He has what he views as an exceedingly rare opportunity. At President Trump's request, Congress added some $60 billion to the military budget. Almost never does the budget rise that much when there's not a major war going on. Shanahan wants to plan for the next few decades, and he is conscious that some of the money will seem to be wasted. In the last big buildup, in the 1980s, there were famous stories of the Pentagon paying hundreds of dollars for a hammer.

SHANAHAN: Guess what? There's probably going to be a $600 hammer because somebody, you know, was trying to do something quickly, and they make a mistake.

INSKEEP: Shanahan says that in the end he just wants to know that spending is effective as the Pentagon executes thousands and thousands of military contracts.

SHANAHAN: I think the math on this is a little over $300 billion a year. So, you know, about a billion dollars a day. And I'll bet you we could find a mistake, but just think of the volume.

INSKEEP: We can find some.

SHANAHAN: Yeah.

INSKEEP: There's no doubt. I was reading recently about an aircraft carrier, the Ford⁵...

SHANAHAN: Right.

INSKEEP: ...Which has been examined and investigated. I'm sure you know this. And it was found that there were problems with a lot of critical systems. The catapults that launched the airplanes off the deck, for example. This is a multibillion-dollar aircraft carrier that seems to be having problems launching airplanes, catching⁶ airplanes, firing weapons, almost every critical system. What do you think, about as a manager, when you discover something like that?

SHANAHAN: Well, it's funny. As you're describing it, I'm like, well, that's normal. You always find problems when you're doing development. The fact that you wouldn't find problems, it means you didn't take enough risk.

INSKEEP: Patrick Shanahan's ultimate goal in managing the world's largest military budget is to focus on future potential threats.

As everybody knows, China has been building up its military forces. And there's a degree of tension in that relationship. How does that affect your thinking here?

SHANAHAN: We think of China, as we see their growth in the military, their theft of intellectual property, we see all of those things as disruptive and, you know, threatening to the American way.

INSKEEP: Which I guess you had to deal with at Boeing long before this job.

SHANAHAN: Well, they were one of our biggest customers, as well. So here it's a lot easier in that regard. But their investment in military capability⁷ is different than where we've invested in the past so it certainly changes our calculus⁸.

INSKEEP: I was thinking about the fact that the Chinese have aircraft carriers. The United States hasn't had to worry about another nation with a serious aircraft carrier fleet in a long time. Suddenly, they have aircraft carriers. You're thinking beyond that. You're thinking about what they do in space. What is your concern about what China does in space?

SHANAHAN: Space was always a sanctuary⁹. It was a place where you didn't have to protect your assets. It was a place that you could operate freely. That's not the case anymore. And since so much of our commerce and way of life is affected¹⁰ by our use of GPS, sharing of communications, sharing of data that we need to make sure we're protected and that we have resilience so that we can continue day-to-day operation of our businesses and defensive¹¹ systems.

INSKEEP: And so really the fact that we haven't had some significant space-based attack may solely¹² be because we haven't had one yet.

SHANAHAN: Because we haven't had one. So do we assume that it will continue just as it has in the past, or should we safeguard this important infrastructure¹³?

INSKEEP: What are you doing about that?

SHANAHAN: So you can imagine that we're not going to get a big ladder and go up there and take what's up and there bring it back...

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

SHANAHAN: ...Swap¹⁴ it out. That's a one-way trip. So, you know, the things that we've - you know, have on orbit are the things that we have on orbit. But when you think about our future systems and the new satellites that we'll put on orbit, they'll be capable of withstanding, you know, jamming and all sorts of other effects that malicious¹⁵ actors may try to deploy¹⁶ to disrupt our way of life.

INSKEEP: What are other future threats on your mind?

SHANAHAN: Well, the threat spectrum¹⁷ ranges from how do you motivate and make sure that we take advantage of what we do have right now that's so precious? We have time to solve a lot of these problems. We have time to invest in security.

INSKEEP: What do you mean by that? Meaning we're not at major war now?

SHANAHAN: Right. Exactly. Prepare for a cold winter, for a short period. Who knows how long the budget will last? Make the most out of it. You know, developing these weapons systems and thinking about the future, this isn't the, you know, freshman¹⁸ econ class. This is the Ph.D. physics class. And having the time and involving the leadership that's seen the world for 30 or 40 years, they know how the world works, and they really do have a sense for risk and technology. Taking advantage of what we have right now to lay the foundation is the most important work we can do.

INSKEEP: Patrick Shanahan, the deputy secretary of defense, spoke¹ earlier this week at the Pentagon. Now the windfall his agency received is not without controversy¹⁹. It is part of the reason the budget deficit²⁰ is expanding. Shanahan just wants to be able to say afterward²¹ that the military spent the money well.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

6 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

7 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

8 calculus   

n.微积分；结石

参考例句：

• This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题，微积分一点也用不上。
• After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后，你们就能够解这些数学题了。

9 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

12 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

13 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

14 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

15 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

16 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

17 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

18 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

19 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

20 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

21 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。