The new administration takes office in a time of great complexity.
Our new President faces a national security environment shaped
by strong currents: globalization; the proliferation of new, poor, and
weak states, as well as nonstate actors; an enduring landscape of violent
extremist organizations; slow economic growth; the rise of China and
a revanchist Russia; a collapsing Middle East; and a domestic politics
wracked by division and mistrust. While in absolute terms the Nation
and the world are safer than in the last century, today the United States
finds itself almost on a permanent war footing, engaged in military operations
around the world.
We tend to think first of the military when pondering national security,
but our political system and economic strength are its true wellsprings.
Whatever our internal political disputes may have been, in former times
a consensus on how best to address the most formidable security threats
obtained. Against great threats we were able to come together. That consensus
was shattered by the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, a 24-
hour news cycle, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Our polarized domestic
politics represents a clear challenge to our national security. Political
fissures will always exist in our constitutional system. But without broad
coherence and accommodation, sensible and sustained national security
and defense policy is gravely impaired.
A parallel threat is our inability to rise above local and partisan political
considerations to more effectively manage the defense budget,
programming, and acquisition processes. The U.S. defense budget approaches
$600 billion per year, dwarfing China’s $150 billion defense
budget and Russia’s $70 billion. Yet we get far less capability than the
numbers suggest. Political opposition to base closures, rising personnel
and program costs, and excessive influence by defense industries on
defense acquisition limits decision space. Our inability to pass defense
budgets on time further complicates programming and budget execution.
More broadly, continued growth in nondiscretionary spending on
entitlements and debt service will, in the next generation or so, begin
to seriously crowd out defense spending if not brought under control.
Meanwhile, expanding staffs and organizations sap resources from the
fighting forces. Defense spending matches the height of the buildup by
Ronald Reagan but can only support a force two-thirds the size. New
systems feature exquisite technology but are so costly that we can afford
far fewer of them, while cost overruns, delayed fielding, and system flaws
are endemic. These are serious issues that cannot be solved without congressional
action and determined Presidential leadership.
Our new President faces a national security environment shaped
by strong currents: globalization; the proliferation of new, poor, and
weak states, as well as nonstate actors; an enduring landscape of violent
extremist organizations; slow economic growth; the rise of China and
a revanchist Russia; a collapsing Middle East; and a domestic politics
wracked by division and mistrust. While in absolute terms the Nation
and the world are safer than in the last century, today the United States
finds itself almost on a permanent war footing, engaged in military operations
around the world.
We tend to think first of the military when pondering national security,
but our political system and economic strength are its true wellsprings.
Whatever our internal political disputes may have been, in former times
a consensus on how best to address the most formidable security threats
obtained. Against great threats we were able to come together. That consensus
was shattered by the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, a 24-
hour news cycle, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Our polarized domestic
politics represents a clear challenge to our national security. Political
fissures will always exist in our constitutional system. But without broad
coherence and accommodation, sensible and sustained national security
and defense policy is gravely impaired.
A parallel threat is our inability to rise above local and partisan political
considerations to more effectively manage the defense budget,
programming, and acquisition processes. The U.S. defense budget approaches
$600 billion per year, dwarfing China’s $150 billion defense
budget and Russia’s $70 billion. Yet we get far less capability than the
numbers suggest. Political opposition to base closures, rising personnel
and program costs, and excessive influence by defense industries on
defense acquisition limits decision space. Our inability to pass defense
budgets on time further complicates programming and budget execution.
More broadly, continued growth in nondiscretionary spending on
entitlements and debt service will, in the next generation or so, begin
to seriously crowd out defense spending if not brought under control.
Meanwhile, expanding staffs and organizations sap resources from the
fighting forces. Defense spending matches the height of the buildup by
Ronald Reagan but can only support a force two-thirds the size. New
systems feature exquisite technology but are so costly that we can afford
far fewer of them, while cost overruns, delayed fielding, and system flaws
are endemic. These are serious issues that cannot be solved without congressional
action and determined Presidential leadership.
