As the Senate Armed Services Committee marks up its version of the2010 defense authorization bill this week, Members should supportand retain many House initiatives including the National DefensePanel and the purchase of additional fighters.
The failure of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (“super committee”) to come to agreement on reducing the federal deficit raises the real prospect of a total of $1 trillion in cuts to the defense budget over the next decade. These cuts have been put forth with little consideration for their long-term impact: a dangerous degradation of America’s capacity to deter, defend, and defeat her enemies. They will have a particularly negative impact on America’s ability to stabilize and influence Asia, a critical component of U.S. national security. While the past century has seen America establish a strong role in Asia, these gains would be jeopardized by the proposed enormous pending cuts in defense capability.