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  • defense budget

    The Wrong Adam Smith

    If you are looking for a great example of a national leader who can’t get his priorities in order, look no further than Representative Adam Smith (D–WA). He recently made clear he has no interest in special legislation that would spare the Pentagon from cuts that even the White House … More

    Slashing Defense Budget Puts Nation at Increased Risk

    Heritage’s James Carafano recently wrote that President Obama’s proposed defense cuts are tantamount to a gift to America’s enemies. These cuts reduce America’s military capabilities in a dangerous world and bring greater risk to the nation. The President’s new defense budget raises the risk level for the U.S. and its … More

    Defense Budget: Proper Metrics Required

    In a recent Wall Street Journal column, George Will criticizes the GOP for failing to provide a national security policy that Americans would agree upon. Will argues that Obama has stolen the GOP advantage on national security as a result of the GOP’s reluctance to gut the defense budget. Will … More

    U.S. Special Forces Will Be Weakened by Defense Budget Cuts

    Since the May 2, 2011, Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, President Obama has lauded the mission’s success and championed U.S. Special Forces as a major component of future military operations. Both Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta have stressed that, as conventional forces draw down in … More

    Morning Bell: The Debate Over China

    Want to hear something disturbing? China has increased its defense budget by double digits every year for the last 20 years. Just as China seems to be gearing up for some undefined enterprise, the U.S. is winding down its defense budget at a similarly rapid pace. Despite the obvious contrast, … More

    A Leaner, but Not Meaner, Military

    The echo chamber of Washington is hard at work. The consensus is growing that the U.S. military will need to aim for a slimmer but still perfectly effective military, thanks to the budget and capability cuts of the past three years. However, given the magnitude of ongoing defense budget cuts, … More

    Romney Joins Calls to Reverse Obama’s Defense Cuts

    Tomorrow starts the 11th year that U.S. military forces will be fighting in Afghanistan. Even though President Obama twice “surged” U.S. troops on the ground there since taking office, he has been busy cutting military capabilities and dollars the entire time. During his first two years in office, the President … More

    Providing for the Common Defense: The First Duty of the “Supercommittee”

    Members of Congress, prominent military and veterans affairs experts, and Tea Party representatives raised concerns that further cuts to the U.S. military would do irreparable damage to national security, during an event sponsored by the Coalition for a Common Defense on Capitol Hill. The event took place amidst the growing … More

    Uncertainty Does Not Pay Off When It Comes to the U.S. Strategic Arsenal

    The U.S. Minuteman III intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM) force faces an uncertain future, writes Mark Schneider in his recent post on DefenseNews.com. A set of Minuteman failures in the recent years is as concerning as the exponential loss of design and engineering expertise within the Air Force itself. As Schneider … More

    Air Obama Won’t Fly

    It took a Twitter town hall to learn how the President really thinks about defense. Not only does Obama want to gut defense as part of his debt deal (a proposal that simply won’t work)—on top of that, he wants to use the Pentagon budget as his personal ATM to … More