At last week’s speech at the Air War College, Secretary Gates told the officers present that, “Health care is eating the [Defense] Department alive.” The massive expansion of military compensation spending in the past decade has placed the entire system in jeopardy. Healthcare spending alone for 2010 is set for $47 billion. And in fiscal year 2009, nearly 25 percent of the defense budget was allocated for military compensation. Fortunately, a solution exists. According to Mackenzie Eaglen, to achieve cost-effective reform, the system should become more competitive, flexible, and more …
What would you do if an enemy tested a weapon that could kill millions of your fellow citizens? According to Heritage Foundation vice president Kim Holmes, the logical response would be to build up a missile defense system capable of knocking a ballistic missile out of the sky. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration’s recent announcement to cut missile defense isn’t exactly logical. In fact it is downright puzzling. Holmes discusses this confusion in his recent op-ed in the Washington Times. While North Korea tested a long-range missile, the Pentagon announced a …
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates refused to grant permission to U.S. Northern Command to use the nation’s most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea’s recent missile launch. Why is this significant? Because the $900 million dollar system, known as SBX, is capable of detecting a baseball hit out of a ballpark from more than 3,000 miles away and provides unparalleled details of missile capabilities. The system is three to four times more powerful than all other radars in the missile defense inventory. If any system should have been used …
What will the military look like in 2019? That is a question that is being asked in light of Secretary Gates’ proposed defense budget cuts. In 2019 it will appear that Gates’ proposal for short-term savings will have jeopardized future readiness. Instead of focusing on evolving threats the U.S. military will have stayed in a state of limbo. Modernization will have come to a halt. This is evident in the reduction of missile defense funding Gates proposed. The decrease of $1.4 billion will essentially stop the development of more advanced …
