Pentagon Focus On Trump's Wasteful Border Wall Threatens US Military Readiness - Senators

The Defense Department is wasting resources on building barriers on the US-Mexico border when it should be focused on military preparedness, four senators said in a letter on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2018) The Defense Department is wasting resources on building barriers on the US-Mexico border when it should be focused on military preparedness, four senators said in a letter on Wednesday.

"In a letter to Secretary [of Defense James] Mattis, the Senators stressed that assessing further upgrades of the Range's fencing would be a wasteful and unjustified expenditure, which only serves to take away from more important priorities, namely military readiness and lethality," Senator Jack Reed said in a press release accompanying the letter.

Reed and three other Democratic senators Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy and Brian Schatz pressed Mattis in the letter about planned activities on the Barry M. Goldwater Range near Yuma, Arizona, including building more than 31 miles of barriers, the release said.

The senators also said the Defense Department lacks any authorization or funding needed to do any construction on the border wall this year.