March 01, 2017
Why Trump Needs to Make Strategic Investments in the U.S. Military
The seemingly shocking numbers are grabbing attention: a defense spending increase near 10 percent. But the reality is, increased spending is overdue. The global role of the United States requires a strong U.S. military with ready forces and modern equipment—a military that is prepared to counter multiple, simultaneous threats.
Since the Budget Control Act passed, Defense Department funding has been substantially reduced from the 2012 budget created by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. In that same five-year period, the international security environment has undergone significant changes. The continuing threat from the Islamic State, a revanchist Russia and a rising China have all placed pressure on the United States to maintain a high operational tempo, as well as sustain its technological superiority.
President Trump’s budget increase would pursue his proposed increase in military capacity: boosting Army active duty troops, Marine Corps battalions, Air Force tactical aircraft and dramatically rebuilding an undersized Navy. It would also go a long way to helping stabilize the currently unpredictable Defense Department budgeting process for long-term planning to address today’s challenges.
Read the full article at The National Interest.
More from CNAS
-
Bombshell: Come What May
Podcast
Erin, Radha, and Loren invited Dr. Lindsay Cohn of the U.S. Naval War College to join their posse and explain America’s history of employing the military for domestic purposes...
By Loren DeJonge Schulman, Lindsay Cohn, Radha Iyengar & Erin Simpson
-
Loren DeJonge Schulman on The Smell of Victory Podcast
Podcast
On The Smell of Victory Podcast, Bob Hein and Phil Walter sat down with Loren DeJonge Schulman of the Center for a New American Security to discuss the draft. Listen to the f...
By Loren DeJonge Schulman
-
Susanna V. Blume on Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast
Podcast
On this Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, a Textron company, our guests include Bob Hale,(who now advises Booz Allen Hamilton &m...
By Susanna V. Blume
-
CNAS’ Colby on Nuclear Strategy, Deterrence, Developing New Capabilities, INF Treaty
Video
Bridge Colby, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force planning — one of the authors of the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy — n...
By Elbridge Colby
