Opinion
Obama/Gates defense cuts will leave America vulnerable
Examiner Editorial
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April 8, 2009
Defense Secretary Robert Gates made public a few good decisions and some very dangerous assumptions Monday as he unveiled what are iikely to be President Obama’s first major defense budget cuts. On the positive side, Obama and Gates want to enlarge the Army and improve the troops’ medical and other care. Obama and Gates would also boost special- operations forces and support services, build more Littoral Combat Ships and Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, and increase land- and sea-based theater missile defense. Obama and Gates are also smart to abandon projects like a new fleet of presidential helicopters that is plagued by huge cost overruns, lengthy delays, and technical problems. It’s almost always wise to stop throwing good money after bad.
On the other hand, Gates would reduce acquisitions involving new technology that would produce “more capability than the nation needs.” He then defines what “the nation needs” by saying that such judgments “should be tied to the actual and prospective capabilities of known future adversaries.” This is a foolhardy abandonment of a central military lesson of history, namely, that nations that only prepare for known adversaries are most vulnerable to lethal surprises. For example, Gates would reduce our technological advantages in conventional warfare in order to focus more on counterinsurgency efforts like those in Iraq and Afghanistan. This ignores not only the growing conventional threats from China and Russia, but also the fact that terrorists groups like Hezbollah have so improved their conventional armaments and tactics that they held the mighty Israeli army last winter to a near-standstill in Lebanon.
Most dangerous of all is the Obama/Gates decision to slash funding for the Missile Defense Agency by $1.4 billion, or nearly 15 percent, thus casting doubt on whether the U.S. will ever actually complete a credible multi-layered defense against ballistic missile attacks. This decision comes despite multiple recent tests that demonstrated the effectiveness of the ground and naval components of the system. Worse is cancellation of the highly promising Airborne Laser program just as it nears tests expected to demonstrate the ability to destroy enemy missiles shortly after launch. Not only do these actions undermine U.S. national security, such vacillation damages our relationships with key allies Japan, Israel and Poland, who are counting on our anti-missile shield against rogue nations like North Korea and Iran. The age-old wisdom teaches that it’s always better to be safe than sorry. It’s almost as if President Obama intends to punish America for its alleged arrogance by making the nation more vulnerable.
