( CNN ) -- The national debt is bad for the military , Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen is telling business men and women and others on a three-day `` Conversations with the Country '' tour across the Midwest . Mullen 's trip , which ends Friday in Cleveland , Ohio , is aimed at encouraging business owners to hire veterans . `` The most significant threat to our national security is our debt , '' he told CNN Wednesday . `` And the reason I say that is because the ability for our country to resource our military -- and I have a pretty good feeling and understanding about what our national security requirements are -- is going to be directly proportional -- over time , not next year or the year after , but over time -- to help our economy . `` That 's why it 's so important that the economy move in the right direction , because the strength and the support and the resources that our military uses are directly related to the health of our economy over time . '' The wars on Iraq and Afghanistan have contributed to a more than doubling of the Pentagon budget , which has jumped from $ 300 billion to $ 664 billion since 2000 . Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called on his department to find $ 100 billion in overhead savings over the next five years . Speaking Thursday to the Economy Club in Detroit , Michigan , Mullen agreed that the Pentagon needs to `` cut the fat . '' `` We 're not a business , '' he said in Detroit . `` Part of us does this really well . Parts of us have never had to , plus our budget has doubled over the last 10 years . '' The admiral said the Pentagon has not been as proactive as it should have been in prioritizing spending and said the department must adopt responsible fiscal practices . `` A lot of those skills have to be sharpened , '' Mullen said . Both industry and the military need to hone those skills , he said , to avoid `` this wave of debt . '' `` It 's the responsibility of both sides , '' he said . `` We have to gird ourselves for some pretty significant challenges , given the national security challenges that we have as well as the responsibility to steward every dollar that we have . '' Mullen has been telling his audiences that interest on the debt will nearly equal the defense budget in two years , but Congressional Budget Office numbers , in a report released in January , show the interest payment approaching the Pentagon 's 2000 budget in 2012 and reaching its 2010 budget in 2019 .
Joint chiefs of staff chairman says debt competes with military spending . The Pentagon budget has more than doubled in 10 years . Score: 6