Now that the second of two counterinsurgency wars, Afghanistan, seems on the road to de-escalation — mainly out of flagging American public support for the quagmire — it is a good time to ask what type of military the United States should have in the future. Although the U.S. Army has borne the brunt of …
Continue reading “Putting Defense Back Into US Defense Policy”
Math has never been my strong suit, but even I can see that the Pentagon — whose officials treat “weapons program” and “cost overrun” as synonyms — has a monster math problem. Not surprisingly, it’s also a place that has never successfully passed an audit. Its top officials have talked endlessly about the giant cuts …
Continue reading “Republican Math and the Pentagon Budget”
The administration recently released its 2013 budget proposal, and conservatives are correctly alarmed that it calls for unprecedented spending and continued annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion. But the same conservatives complain that the budget does not devote enough funds to overseas adventurism. I continue to be dismayed that in spite of our economic problems, most …
Continue reading “Overspending on National Security Threatens National Security”
Gordon England, deputy secretary of defense under Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates, has opined in The Washington Post that the sky is once again falling as a result of proposed Pentagon budget cuts. According to England, “Further budget cuts will erode our security and put the country back on a path leading to another ill-equipped …
Continue reading “The Sky Is Falling”
The 21st century hasn’t exactly been America’s greatest moment. Still, there remain winners, along with all the losers you might care to mention. If, in fact, you were to sum up the first decade-plus of the next “American Century” in manufacturing terms, you might say that — Steve Jobs aside — this country has mainly …
Continue reading “Confessions of a Recovering Weapons Addict”
Despite all the hysteria, wailing, and gnashing of teeth from Washington war hawks, there are no spending cuts proposed in the defense budget, nor is there any change at all in our defense policy. Typical of the frenzy was the comment by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) that the “massive cuts” …
Continue reading “The Myth of Defense Cuts”
During every American war, politics are involved. And I am not referring to relating with the client government, “winning the hearts and minds” of the indigenous population, or even maintaining popular support for the war at home. I am talking about the politics among the services at the Pentagon. Such politics often get buried in …
Continue reading “Cut Carriers Now”
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes … known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its …
Continue reading “Privatizing the War on Terror: America’s Military Contractors”
And a Military-First Policy on a Destabilizing Planet
The “lamestream media,” which often parrots what government officials blather, has touted the approximately $480 billion in promised savings to the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) budget over 10 years as “defense cuts.” Instead, these should be termed “Washington cuts” or “imaginary cuts” or even “fraudulent cuts.” First, the national budget is usually legislated each year, …
Continue reading “Don’t Count on Obama’s Defense Cuts” 
