Our Forces Are at the Ready, but Not for Cutbacks

As concerns about the American economy grow, the debate over defense spending continues at a feverish pace. An entire spectrum of ideas has been placed before the public, with critics or “defense experts” having their own agenda on how to cut defense in an effort to reduce the nation’s budgetary deficit.

The discussions of cuts that indiscriminately have an impact on defense capabilities and current military readiness are both disconcerting and frustrating.

The last eight years have seen some unmistakable gains in our military readiness and capability. U.S. naval forces (in fact, all U.S. military forces) have never been stronger or more ready. America’s position in the world has also never been so strong. Our friends, who have never feared our leadership and have only wanted to count on our strength, can do just that. And potential adversaries now have to recalculate their ambitions because of our strength.

Still, we see a move by various people who seem hellbent on throwing those gains away.

Eight years ago, our political leaders--with the support of the American public--committed themselves to an investment. The investment was a large one, but was necessary to recover from the neglect of the 1970s when the military suffered from low states of readiness. Some ships couldn’t sail because of material problems and personnel shortages; aircraft readiness was low because of lack of spare parts and trained maintenance personnel; morale problems abounded.

This tremendous investment provided the nation with an extremely capable fleet and a professional personnel force that has never been more dedicated, spirited or well-trained. Simply stated, never has the Navy been more ready to respond to a wide range of contingencies and threats.

The question is, does the nation have the resolve to preserve its investment or is it willing to return to the dark days of just a few years ago? To allow the latter to happen and fail to protect the investment would be the biggest case of fraud, waste and abuse this country has ever seen. History has repeatedly shown us the consequences of complacency.

The critics would like to make us believe that we can’t afford a strong military. They argue that the defense buildup has caused the budget deficit. Today, however, defense spending is less than 6% of our gross national product. During the years of the so-called Reagan buildup, it was never more than 6.3%--and it has declined steadily in the last four years. But 20 years ago, that figure was 9%--and we had a balanced federal budget.

If one looks at a graph of defense and non-defense spending since 1969 (the last year of a balanced budget), we see that the curve for defense is relatively flat but that the curve for non-defense spending keeps turning upward at an alarming rate. And the key point is that the curve almost exactly matches the slope of our federal budget deficit.

It is frustrating for those in senior military positions--those who are directly responsible for providing for our nation’s security and who had to deal firsthand with our diminished capability in the last decade--to see the apparent complacency, the almost perverted idealism, the unscrupulous politicking and the inability to see reason and logic in the one element of our great democracy in which the national interest should be above parochial interest.

It is frustrating to deal with those who argue that because we have built something that works, we can afford to neglect it for a while. It is frustrating to argue with those who can’t stand success, who can’t seem to be comfortable with strength and who would apparently prefer being lovable losers.

Why are we turning our backs on defense? People listen to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, probably the greatest PR man in this century, and they think, in the immortal words of Neville Chamberlain, that we will have “peace for our time.”

Unfortunately, it’s not true; or at least, not yet.

It has long been a military axiom that you must not get tangled up trying to unravel your opponent’s intentions. Instead, you must keep your eyes on capabilities. To that end, many intelligent people seem to overlook the fact that Soviet military capabilities continue to grow while their intentions are being slickly packaged to look like democracy in action.

Certainly something is happening in the Soviet Union today. But what it is, what it means and how long it will last are still uncertainties. The Soviets have not dismantled a single military system that they were not bound to do under constraints of treaty. Except in Afghanistan, they have not withdrawn from a single maritime or military position.

It’s still a very dangerous world and the threat still threatens. We can watch and hope. But let’s keep our heads on straight.