Debt, Deficits, and Defense Dollars, what about Strategy?

“Our strategy starts by recognizing that our strength and influence abroad begins with steps we take at home. We must grow our economy and reduce our deficit.”

“We must also build and integrate the capabilities that advance our interests and the interests we share with other countries and peoples. Our Armed Forces will always be a cornerstone of our security...”

These statements appear in the opening paragraphs to the National Security Strategy of the United States of 2010. They are in the introduction, signed by Barack Obama himself, they are echoed in language throughout the rest of that document. The National Security Strategy is a document that is periodically rewritten by the executive branch which outlines the major national security concerns of the United States and how the administration plans to deal with them. These sentences are underscored by additional, similar statements within the document. President Obama and his administration have made it their unequivocal and official position that deficit reduction and military preparedness are keys to America's security. 

 

You wouldn't know it from the administration's words and actions since then. From last year's Debt Ceiling Crisis, to the most recent Fiscal Cliff deal, the President has demonstrated a lack of commitment to deficit reduction, debt relief, or serious defense reform. Not that Congressional Republicans have performed much better. Their negotiations have resulted in a continuing series of “Punts” that have postponed any real discussions on these issues.

America's strength has for decades rested on two integrated pillars, our economy and our military. Economic strength and growth ensured that our military maintained technological and training advantages over diverse threats ranging from the old Soviet Union, to today's International Islamist movement. Our military meanwhile, secured free seas and open trade, and ensured that our economy could grow and remain strong.

Long term economic trends in America today are undermining these pillars. Continued deficit spending has swelled our national debt to sixteen trillion dollars. That's roughly one fifth of the Global Economy. Servicing our debt now costs us roughly 250 Billion dollars a year, an amount that will grow with deficit spending. Our defense budget gobbles up another 900 billion annually. But these two numbers still don't account for the 1.27 trillion in deficit spending. 

A serious, and truly “balanced approach needs to be implemented. Continuing to raise the debt ceiling will only increase our interest payments. Serious spending cuts need to be implemented, and yes there is surely some fat to be cut from defense. Cutting the entire DOD budget, and nothing else though, would still leave us 400 billion in the red annually. While we need to reform defense spending, by analyzing threats and focusing on core capabilities to defeat those threats, and by reforming the acquisition processes that have wasted defense dollars since the 1950s, we also need to reform our entire national budgetary process.

March 1, looms as the next cliffhanger date, by which time defense spending must be addressed, or automatic “sequestration” cuts will proceed. More likely, Congress will act, by punting again. We will postpone any real discussion. Meanwhile the President will continue to dodge on spending reform outside the Pentagon. His selection of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense hints at a preference for deep cuts to the Pentagon's budget. In Congress, Republicans having caved on the Fiscal Cliff, and seem set in the Senate to cave on Hagel's appointment.
So the “who” and the “how” stand as open questions regarding our National Security Strategy. 

President Obama, in contradiction to his own written strategy appears unwilling to reduce spending anywhere but the defense budget. This will undermine our economic strength, erode our military power and weaken our security in the world today. Who will ensure that we reduce our debt, reduce our deficit, ensure continued military advantage? More importantly perhaps: how can we achieve this in the face of leadership that ignores its own strategy?