Anyone else having flashbacks to the Clinton-era?

(US News) — The pathetically predicable failure of the House-Senate debt “super committee” to do as ordered and produce $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years has sent top Pentagon officials scrambling to morph their futuristic and modestly budgeted war strategy into a Kmart blue light special that could jeopardize the nation’s safety.

The super committee’s failure means that Defense, already near the end of developing a new strategy that accounts for President Obama’s promise to slash $450 billion over 10 years, could be hit with an automatic cut of another $500 billion over 10 years, likely resulting in a smaller nuclear force, fewer overseas bases, cancellation of new equipment like the Joint Strike Fighter, and the smallest ground force since before Pearl Harbor.

While other cabinet departments are banking on Congress changing the rules requiring automatic cuts beginning in January 2013, the Pentagon, now run by former Clinton budget chief Leon Panetta, can’t bank on a hope and a prayer. “We have to plan our spending,” says an official. “We have long-term contracts. We have personnel decisions. We have worldwide commitments. We can’t do it overnight.”