![]() national strategy itself, from which our military strategy is derived, would require a book of its own. military confronts a crisis in the decade ahead that-if ignored-could threaten a general collapse of itsĪbility to execute the requirements of the current-or any future-national military strategy.Īn assessment of the effectiveness of the overall U.S. Yet that is the precise riskĭespite its ability to carry out difficult and complex missions today, the U.S. We have become so accustomed to the benefits of our military security that we fail to recognize how vulnerable we would be to aggression, instability, and terrorism without it. ![]() military's success in deterring aggression and safeguarding our national interests hereĪnd overseas. We have enjoyed economic prosperity, burgeoning global trade, and political stability with our major allies because of the U.S. But the exact opposite is true: For decades ![]() Many consider the debate over the future of our military a complex technical matter that is far removed from the daily concerns of the average American citizen. This situation cannot go on for much longer without dire results. Our men and women are suffering burnout as they are deployed in oneĬrisis after another because our political leaders cannot understand the stress their policies have created. ![]() Tactical fighter aircraft, Navy warships, and military transport helicopters-that are twenty to twenty-five years old and are becoming obsolete. We have a topflight force that is running on empty, performing admirably with a growing number of weapons systems-including There is no contradiction in those two descriptions of the U.S. And the Pentagon faces a crisis in its attempt to modernize the force because it has insufficient funds to purchase the next generation of warships, combat aircraft, and other military hardware to replaceĮquipment that will become obsolete within the next decade or two. As a result, military units are being forced to operate with as much as 10 percent fewer personnel than are needed The four combat services-the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps-are struggling with unanticipated personnel shortages owing to a sharp decline in first-term enlistments and anĮxodus of experienced, mid-level career specialists drawn to civilian life by the booming domestic economy. Combat readiness-the measurement of a unit's ability to carry out its wartime mission-is declining throughout The unrelenting pace of overseas deployments, humanitarian missions,Īnd other unscheduled operations is straining military units and personnel to the breaking point. The armed forces have been reduced in size by 40 percent in the last decade, but are still largely structured as they were during the Cold War. The Pentagon budget dwarfed the military spending of Russia ($40-$64 billion) and China ($37 billion).īut the U.S. Our nation's $281 billion defense budget in 1998 (compared with the NATO allies' total of $202īillion) represented 34 percent of all world military spending, up from 30 percent in the previous decade. The United States today spends more on defense than the NATO allies, Japan, and South Korea combined. ![]() And ten years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, our strategic nuclear arsenal is still an overwhelmingĭeterrent to any nation contemplating attacks by weapons of mass destruction on American soil or, indeed, anywhere else. In the Iraqi desert, our Army and Marine Corps are deployed on the ground from the Korean demilitarized zone to Kuwait. armed forces are manned by highly educated, technologically adept professionals. A quarter century after the decision to end the military draft, the U.S. A half centuryĪfter its warplanes waged strategic bombing campaigns against imperial Japan and the Third Reich, our Air Force can launch precision-guided weapons at the enemy, or transport troops and equipment nonstop from the United Ten decades after the naval victories at Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba in 1898 that propelled the United States onto the world's stage, our Navy warships steam unopposed in every ocean. armed forces are operating in critical hot spots from Korea to Kosovo and from the Adriatic Sea to the Arabian Gulf. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the United States remains the world's sole superpower, and the U.S. ![]()
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