Leon Panetta actually said...

we owe it to the taxpayers to be transparent and accountable for how we spend their dollars

they are going to get their financials in shape. They are going to be auditable not just by 2017; he wants to beat that date.

a smaller, ready, and well-equipped military is preferable to a larger, ill-prepared force.

Let me be clear. You can't take a half trillion out of the defense budget and not incur additional risk. There is no margin for error.