The Hill – Cheney and Foust: A long-term strategy for US national security
ASP CEO Stephen Cheney and Fellow Joshua Foust write in The Hill:
The old cliché that the military is always fighting the last war is truer than ever: the Obama administration thinks the limited intervention in Libya was a resounding success (even if the fate of Libya remains very much in doubt), and wants to replicate other successes with a sea-basedairpower conflict. The most obvious target for this goal is China, and in the new defense strategy there is a lot of language detailing the “threat” of a competition in the Pacific Ocean.
Since the end of the Cold War, Pentagon planners have been desperate for another peer competitor to orient the military around. And for almost as long, China has seemed the perfect competitor – a large country, with a large, modernizing military, and a big ocean in which to fight it. But the prospect of a major conflict with China is remote, and assuming one is inevitable poses the danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy.
We can all welcome a reduction in the growth of the defense budget, as President Obama advocates. But without being smart, and thinking in the long term, we risk repeating the same mistakes in force reductions and budget cuts that we did in the early 1990s, and the early 2000s. We should have a longer view than just the next few years, or what might seem easier, if we’re to secure America’s future.
