On November 14, 2011, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta wrote a letter to Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham explaining the ramifications of the full sequestration defense cuts. Should these cuts take place over the next 10 years, he said, the United States would be left with its smallest ground force since World War II; the smallest Navy since 1915; the smallest fighter force in the history of the Air Force; and the smallest civilian work force in the Defense Department's history.

Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, testified on Capitol Hill in May that such cuts would leave the corps without "adequate capabilities and capacities to meet a single major contingency operation."

National defense is only 20% of the budget, yet the sequester subjects it to 50% of the automatic cuts. The other $500 billion will be cut from domestic programs. Sequestration, which both Democrats and Republicans voted for, was intended to spur Washington to responsible action; it was never meant to be an effective deficit-reduction tool. No doctor operates with a pickax, unless, of course, he intends to maim his patient.