Obama Aims at Wrong Target with Dangerous Defense Cuts

On January 5th, President Obama announced his new military strategy that is based on a $487 billion reduction in military spending. Although we will not know the details of those reductions until after February 6, when the President releases his budget, we do know that the Army and Marine Corps may suffer a 10-15% loss of personnel. The fact that the President's military strategy includes such drastic personnel and budget cuts increases the risks to our national security. The President should be concerned about the strategic implications of the defense spending levels he is implementing, and join with those in Congress seeking to prevent a further spending hemorrhage as a result of sequestration. The sequestration cuts represent financial ruin for the Department of Defense and would gut our defense capabilities; especially at risk are senior NCOs and junior commissioned officers with combat experience. House Republicans are focused on this critical issue and determined to avoid such cuts from going into effect. But where is the Commander-in-Chief? He fails to lead because not only is he not asking his party to address the issue, he himself is failing to even address it.

The President's course repeats the mistakes of the past, despite his assurances that he would not. After every modern war we have slashed the military budgets and lived to rue the decision. We are in a dangerous world with threats increasing, not decreasing. The President should push for maintaining at least the current defense funding levels until our current conflicts draw to a close. This would help the military to properly provide for our service members returning home and care for military families. It would assist in the repair and replacement of equipment and the resetting of our forces that have been abused over 10 years of combating terrorism abroad. We would be in a better position to fulfill our world-wide military requirements. The United States does not have the luxury of choosing our enemies and deciding whether or not they will attack us. We must fund our military properly in order to remain prepared and vigilant.

Our nation's unemployment rate has remained over nine percent for most of the past thirty-five months. Millions of Americans are seeking full-time employment. Thousands of people in our communities, both civilians and uniformed service members, rely upon defense spending for their livelihoods. Although some identify the large defense contractors that make the planes and tanks as those who will be impacted by these budget cuts, it is the truck driver that brings supplies to a base and the waitress that works in a restaurant off-post that will be hurt the most. The President has stated, "We need to renew our economic strength at home." Unfortunately, the President's plan will only serve to negatively impact millions of American homes.

The President's strategy amounts to cutting off the head to cure a headache. According to the World Bank, the United States' defense spending represents 4.8 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This percentage pales in comparison to defense spending in 1962 when 9.3 percent of our GDP was spent on Defense. Our nation's entitlement programs are the largest contributing factor to our growing nation debt, not our defense spending which is less than 18 percent of the current budget. In 1976, entitlement spending equaled defense spending and since then, defense spending has declined to our current levels while entitlement spending has climbed to represent 10 percent of our GDP. Maintaining our military and national security is our Constitutional duty

We live in a very turbulent time, a time where one rogue state, North Korea, has already acquired nuclear weapons. Iran, a nation that is on the verge of creating a nuclear weapon, has vowed to destroy our most constant ally in the Middle East, Israel. Governments around the world are facing financial crises, while others are in the midst of revolution. With instability across North Africa, unrest within nuclear Pakistan, enemies of America organizing in South America, well-funded terrorist organizations recruiting mass-murderers, and even pirates threatening shipping off Africa's coast, now is not the time to cut defense spending. Now is the time to make sure our military is the most well funded and prepared in history. The President is choosing a path of weakness that only emboldens our enemies and invites war. At such a volatile point in history, we must follow Ronald Reagan's philosophy of "peace through strength," and continue to protect and preserve our great nation.