Secretary Gates Muzzles Budgeteers

The $534 billion fiscal 2010 budget for the Defense Department, which the Obama administration released on Thursday, contains few details, particularly on major programs such as the IT-rich $230 billion Army Future Combat Systems project intended to network myriad vehicles and sensors on the battlefield.

Details on funding for FCS -- and what Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell called "every big ticket program with problems" in a press briefing on Feb. 25 -- will be released with the final and full budget in April.

To prevent leaks until then, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates everyone involved in the budget process -- including the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- to sign non-disclosure forms, Morrell said.

The agreement binds everyone involved in the budget process to not leak or speak about the budget publicly so "the process can be as collegial as possible," Morrell said. He added that this is the first time Gates has ever asked top Pentagon uniformed and civilian staffers to sign a nondisclosure agreement and did so partly out of the recognition of the impact that the Defense budget decisions have on contractors and their employees.

The ban on budget leaks - if it holds -also will keep the services from using them to boost support for projects that may be on the cutting block, a practice all three services have used in the past.

I have doubts that everyone can keep their mouth shut until April, particularly if a key multibillion-dollar program is facing the axe.