From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

The Pentagon, sequester, and national security.

Hello again, I'm Mormon-Aulny, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most. The U.S. plans to spend more on defense next year than the next 17 countries combined.

So why is Washington so worried about an automatic 10% cut? That's part of what's called sequester,

the deal made by both parties in August when they failed to agree on an overall federal budget.

Now, facing a deadline at the end of this year, Democrats and Republicans call it unthinkable,

devastating, and deeply destructive.

Would the U.S. suddenly be weaker?

What about jobs?

Is this the political club that could finally knock financial sense into the military industrial complex.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from the members of KCRW

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund.

Hello again, Mormon-A-Lony, back with To the Point.

How much defense spending does the United States really need?

How much can it reasonably afford?

Those are just two of the questions raised by sequester,

which will require a 10% across-the-board cut in Pentagon spending

by the very beginning of next year.

Will it really happen?

Or will the White House in Congress kick the can down

...