Tag: Defense Spending

How NOT to make America Strong Again

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/M901_TOW_missile_vehicle_(1985).JPEGI found this two page document in my old military career files. I believe it was circulated to every U.S. military unit in West Germany. Note the lack of official office header. Note our battalion commander’s short-hand direction, in the upper left corner, to ensure every officer read it. I have typed, in red, the words that are too faint to read on this old photocopy. After the document, I have a tale to tell.

What on earth caused the chain of command to be so concerned about a news article or so? In short, the new social dynamic of the All Volunteer Force. These stories, instead of being managed as part of the political game, were causing pain to those politicians, generals, and industry leaders who had hoped to benefit from the stories with new spending.

[Member Post]

 

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell on Iran Sanctions Snapback, America’s Energy Competition with Russia in the EU, Chancellor Merkel U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell occupies one of the most critical positions in American diplomacy, not only because Germany represents the EU’s largest economy and has disproportionate influence on the continent, but because of […]

⚠️ This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet's community of conservatives and be part of the conversation.

Join Ricochet for free.

This week on Banter, AEI Resident Fellow at the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies Mackenzie Eaglen joined the show to discuss her latest white paper “Defense Budget Peaks in 2019, Underfunding the National Defense Strategy,” which analyzes President Trump’s second defense budget. She argues that this budget misses the mark on suggestions made in her report from earlier this year, “Repair and Rebuild: Balancing New Military Spending for a Three-Theater Strategy.” Eaglen has worked on defense issues in the House of Representatives and Senate and at the Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff. You can read both reports at the links below.

Learn More:

Why Won’t Europe Defend Itself? — Peter Robinson

 

Back when the United States had no qualms about maintaining an enormous defense establishment, I could see why the Europeans wanted to let us do all the nasty work, maintaining only nominal defenses themselves. But now?  President Obama has devoted the last five years to reducing our commitments abroad, shrinking our armed forces, and making us, withal, much less reliable allies than we used to be.

The European response? To make their defense budgets even smaller.