ABC’s Jake Tapper recently ran Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to the ground on the issue of the automatic defense cuts that will impact on the armed forces.

As National Review reported, Panetta “said another $500 billion in cuts ‘would be disastrous in terms of our national defense.’ Tapper noted to him that Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid [D–NV] has said he is ready to let the sequester occur, and Panetta repeated that ‘what both Republicans and Democrats need to do and the leaders on both sides is to recognize that if sequester takes place, it would be disastrous for our national defense.’ Congressional leaders, in the secretary’s view, ‘have a responsibility to come together, find the money necessary to de-trigger sequester. That’s what they ought to be working on now.’”

Frankly, the danger that the military’s greatest enemy could be Washington is far graver than the Secretary suggests. These cuts are coming on top of many signs that readiness and capabilities of the Armed Forces are already poised on the edge of free fall.

Heritage recently highlighted these concerns in a series of short videos that tell troubling stories of what is going on with our Army, Air Force, and naval services.

This is must-see cinema for those who worry about whether the men and women who protect us have what they need to do the job right and come home safe.