Letters to the Editor: Biden is favoring diplomacy over military solutions. About time

To the editor: Andrew J. Bacevich’s piece on President Biden’s immediate defense priorities seems to focus only on military solutions to the nation’s national security problems, which I find rather short-sighted given it comes from someone who leads the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Peace is achieved by restoring the diplomacy and alliances that were dismantled by the previous administration with its “America first” approach. Biden has correctly made restoration of foreign relations a top priority.

Bacevich makes reasonable points about questioning our applications of force, but I would argue that preventing the need to apply force should come first.

Bill Gervasi, Ladera Ranch

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To the editor: There is now a program on the table for “modernizing our nuclear weapons” at a cost of $1.7 trillion. Biden has the option of issuing an executive order to pause this program and consider other options.

Does it really appear likely that we would need a full launch of nuclear weapons on any nation in the foreseeable future? This money could fund COVID-19 relief instead. I hope this issue is not lost in the shuffle as money is thrown around in an effort to stimulate our economy and help working-class Americans.

We have an enormous stock of nuclear weapons capable of destroying the world. Should we be spending $1.7 trillion to upgrade them?

Peter Marquard, Northridge