Joe Gould and Aaron Mehta write:
Last year, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis testified that the Pentagon needed 3 to 5 percent annual growth above inflation through 2023 to stay ahead of near-peer adversaries Russia and China. Congress responded with a $700 billion national defense budget for 2018 and $716 billion for 2019 — but also a $1 trillion tax cut that’s grown the national deficit.
5% real growth to 2023 would get you near $938 billion. But guidance was given for a $700 billion budget next year.
When the DOD says they need more money because Russia and China are catching up, they need to give us a story about why we can’t stay ahead when we outspend them by a lot. Are they stealing our technology? Is catch-up always easier than the bleeding edge? Is our acquisition system woefully inefficient compared to theirs?
The most remarkable thing about this problem is that the US and the West has so much more human capital to draw from than Russia and China.
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