Veronique de Rugy: Living Eisenhower's nightmare

During his 1961 farewell address, President Eisenhower warned the American people that one of the greatest threats to freedom came not from enemies abroad, but “the conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry,” which over time would lose sight of the goal of defending the United States and become devoted only to its own perpetuation.”

Yet any suggestion of reducing even the pace of defense spending growth inevitably results in dire threats about cybersecurity attacks, Chinese invasion or Americans soon speaking Chinese, Arabic or the mother tongue of whomever is deemed our most powerful adversary at the moment.