the united states has acquired various new weapons, but the risk of defeat still exists
2024-09-07
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reference news reported on september 7according to the website of the u.s. bimonthly magazine national interest on september 4, america is in trouble and is going bankrupt. after decades of excessive spending, a debt crisis has descended upon us that dwarfs what europe experienced in the 2010s.
the us government lacks the ability to prioritize, so it can only continue to dig deeper and deeper into the us fiscal gap.
social security, medicare, and medicaid are the biggest spending items that could have pushed the u.s. into this mess, but the defense budget is also in the top five. in fact, the u.s. department of defense is one of the most lavishly funded and convoluted bureaucracies in the world.
the department of defense is consuming more and more financial resources, but is increasingly unable to achieve its goals. if a large-scale war breaks out, the united states is actually very likely to become a defeated country.
the risk of defeat remains despite the pentagon’s acquisition of a variety of extremely impressive new weapons, including new aircraft carriers that cost $13 billion each but are vulnerable to relatively cheap anti-access/area denial systems.
america’s adversaries spend far less on their defense budgets. but they are at least approaching parity with the united states militarily and surpassing it in areas such as hypersonic weapons. contrary to the beliefs of modern american politicians and military leaders, spending more money does not equate to greater capabilities nor strategic advantage.
america’s national debt—caused in large part by outrageous defense spending—is itself a long-term national security threat.
part of the problem with america's out-of-control defense spending is that over the past few decades, washington leaders from both parties have lacked a realistic strategic view of what they want to achieve with their massive defense spending. the "à la carte" approach we have been taking to building the systems we need to keep america safe is no longer working.
the pentagon must determine which key weapons platforms could truly threaten america’s adversaries and restore deterrence. one of the greatest threats we face comes from anti-access/area denial systems such as those mentioned above, which are deployed by america’s enemies to deny the ability of u.s. forces to project power close to enemy shores. there is currently no substantive way to counter this threat.
compared with building more aircraft carriers, developing longer-range weapons such as hypersonic kill vehicles and directed energy weapons, expanding the size of the u.s. submarine fleet, and forming a swarm of unmanned underwater vehicles are more effective investments.
furthermore, the united states is closer to nuclear war today than at any time since the cuban missile crisis. despite this fact, the department of defense still does not adequately fund the space force. more importantly, the u.s. space force lacks the strategic vision necessary to justify increased military spending.
building a full range of space-orbital missile and hypersonic weapons defense capabilities must become a top priority. instead, the u.s. military will allow these funds to flow to wasteful projects such as the "next generation air dominance" program or the navy's doomed "constellation" class frigates.
it’s not that the pentagon shouldn’t spend money, but the problem is that the way the department of defense spends money and where it goes is making the defense budget one of the few major expenditures that could drain the fiscal budget.
