In irons U.S. military might in the new centuryThis book is about the future condition of America's military might. The message is sobering, unsettling, and, for the moment, unheeded. Despite the best intentions of government, U.S. fighting strength is being steadily and perceptibly eroded. Unless the nation takes powerful remedial action, or is very lucky, before the end of this century, this erosion in military power will lead to profound decline, decay, or worse. 'Worse' means that the debilitating form of 'in irons' will become inevitable. As will be shown, the reasons for this accelerating and downward defense spiral are now predominantly structural, domestic, and embedded in the way the United States Government does and will do business in a world that possesses but a single superpower. The larger questions of whether a dramatic cut in U.S. military capabilities and in the ability to project force on a timely and effective operational basis will matter and will harm U.S. national security are, currently, less precisely answerable. However; any message of warning is sure to be muffled and muzzled by measures of disinterest and complacency naturally arising from the public's attention on almost exclusively non-defense issues and from the immediate and overwhelming superiority of today's U.S. military forces that seemingly contradicts any forecasts of despair. |
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actions adversaries Air Force aircraft carrier alliance allies American Army base force basis billion Bottom-Up Review BRAC BUR force choice Clinton administration Cold Cold War conflict Congress continue costs crisis dangers debate defense budget defense spending deployed deployments deterrence dollars domestic downsizing economic Europe federal flexible force structure funding Gulf War incentives industrial base infrastructure issues maintain major Marine Corps ment mili military capability military force missions national security NATO Navy North Korea nuclear weapons numbers objectives operational peacekeeping percent perhaps personnel planning political presence president priorities programs readiness reduced reform regional relevant reserve response role ships Somalia Soviet Union specific strategic uncertainty Table Tailhook tary tegic thermonuclear thermonuclear weapons threat tion tional Treaty Truman U.S. commitments U.S. forces U.S. military power U.S. security United USSR Vietnam vital Warsaw Pact World War II
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Page 4 - All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody Sun, at noon, Right up above the mast did stand, No bigger than the Moon. Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.
Page 48 - to raise and support Armies" and "to provide and maintain a Navy.
Page 28 - Includes the $2,600,000,000 cost of the July 1. 1969 pay raise. The pay-raise costs were not shown in the agency totals but were included in a Government-wide contingency estimate in the fiscal year 1970 Johnson budget.
Page 145 - The missile is now the primary guided-misslle weapon used by squadrons in the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and the Seventh Fleet in the western Pacific.
Page 28 - ... the $2,600,000,000 cost of the July 1. 1969 pay raise. The pay-raise costs were not shown in the agency totals but were included in a Government-wide contingency estimate in the fiscal year 1970 Johnson budget. < Lowest percent of GNP since 1951 ; lowest percent of Federal budget since 1950.
Page 134 - Rio Treaty: United States, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay...
Page 134 - TREATY UNITED STATES CANADA ICELAND NORWAY UNITED KINGDOM NETHERLANDS DENMARK BELGIUM LUXEMBOURG PORTUGAL FRANCE ITALY GREECE TURKEY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY...
Page 28 - These amounts are undistributed intragovernmental transactions deducted from Government-wide totals. These include Government contribution for employee retirement and interest received by trust funds. • Measured in terms of Defense outlays as a percentage of GNP and Federal budget
Page 32 - FY 1983 and beyond, reserve personnel on active duty for ~ Training and Administration of Reserves (TARs) are categorized as Selected Reservists (SELRES); prior to FY 1983, TARs were included in Active Military strengths. FY 1982 TAR strength was 11,000.
Page 206 - Organization (NATO), the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), and the Western European Union (WEU). No single institution is expected to play a dominating role in Europe, however; instead, the aim is to create "a framework of complementary, mutually reinforcing...