The largest item in war and security spending, $300 billion, is for pay and benefits. One reason spending is soaring is because the United States treats soldiers better than in the past. As Gates has remarked, “It is reasonable to wonder whether the nation is getting a commensurate increase in capability in exchange for these spiraling costs.” This turns out to be a colossal understatement. In June, I spoke at a flag officers’ forum at the Naval War College in Newport, where Admiral Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, explained that naval intelligence believes Beijing’s long-term goal is to avoid war: China is building weapons appropriate to defend its coasts, not to contest the United States in the air or on “the blue water.” Such indicators, combined with the drawdown in Iraq, suggest the defense budget should be falling, not climbing. China, vaguely a potential adversary, is mainly on good terms with America. Iran is a cause of enormous stress but does not threaten the United States. Moscow and Washington just shook hands on another nuclear arms reduction agreement. military is strong and honorable does not, however, mean the price is justified. But has any other nation that possessed such overwhelming military force refrained from using it for conquest or pursuit of riches? Such beliefs may be wrong, even tragically so. Instead, the American military pursues what political leaders believe is best for the world. Furthermore, as Obama noted in a speech at West Point in 2009, the United States does not use its might to acquire territory or seize resources. The vast sums that America spends on defense buy many valuable things: a highly trained and ethical military sophisticated and wide-ranging counterterrorism efforts and extensive humanitarian operations, most recently in Haiti, Indonesia, and Pakistan. The United States wields more military power relative to other nations than any country has ever known, including Rome at the peak of empire. If the Pentagon wants something, the logic goes, then it must be necessary. And yet, security spending and military deployment are presented to the nation as virtually untouchable. But an ugly melee is brewing regarding America’s unsustainable government spending-and defense and security costs cannot be exempted from tough decisions over what the country can and cannot afford. Pentagon profligacy is not a new phenomenon.
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