Austere Defense: Challenges and Opportunities.

摘要

During the past year, the intensity of debate surrounding the current and future defense budgets has reached a fever pitch. Now, as political leaders, military planners, and industry moguls look toward the 2016 19 time frame, each is confronted with several difficult questions and choices impacting national security. For example, how much defense is enough. What is an acceptable level of risk given our austere budget climate. What kind of defense capability and level of readiness best meet US security needs. And what choices must be made to balance our national security ends, ways, and means. Of course the answers to these questions and many others have been hotly debated and, for the FY 2015 budget, mostly decided by Congress and the administration. But the debate is just beginning for the following year s defense program, which is sure to present major challenges and a few opportunities. To understand the nature of this challenge, two overarching issues emerge: the ever-increasing US debt that led to sequestration and congressional culpability in creating and solving this problem. While these issues have grave implications for US national security, there are a number of reasonable solutions and ways to manage them during times of austere defense.