Perhaps the most difficult challenge facing the Navy in 1999 is the need to ensure that our Sailors
and their families enjoy a quality of life that is commensurate with their personal commitments of
service to America, to ensure that the Fleet’s readiness is sustained at levels needed to meet the
nation’s global commitments, and to provide sufficient resources to ensure that tomorrow’s ships,
aircraft, submarines, weapons, and sensors will be able to meet the daunting forward-presence,
crisis-response, and warfighting requirements of the future. For the first time since Fiscal Year
1985, the President has requested a Department of Defense budget that keeps ahead of inflation
and seeks to fund our most serious concerns. For the Navy, our most critical needs will indeed be
met, but resources remain constrained, requiring difficult decisions and trade-offs, as we continue
on our course into the 21st century.
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