Holding the Line: U.S. Defense Alternatives for the Early 21st Century

Cindy Williams

MIT Press, 2001 - Business & Economics - 289 pages

Since the end of the Cold War, the US military has reduced its combat forces by 40 percent, closed about 20 percent of its bases, and withdrawn from many overseas posts. Even after these changes, the US military is by far the strongest in the world, with huge advantages in training, equipment, and technology. Despite cutting its annual spending by about 30 percent, the United States spends more than the countries with the six next-largest military budgets combined. Heated debates continue to rage over US military spending. In the late 1990s, many commentators claimed that spending was too low, and the defense budget began to increase for the first time since the mid-1980s. Others argued that the United States had taken on too many military missions -- including frequent humanitarian interventions or peacekeeping operations -- and needed to scale back these deployments. Holding the Line presents objective and detailed assessments of the US defense budget and America's military strategy. Its contributors conclude that the United States must reshape its military to face the real challenges of the coming decades. They call for smaller US forces with more modern weapons, sensors, avionics, and communications systems. They offer recommendations that would enable the US military to transform its forces and make them more effective, while holding the line on defense budget increases.

Contents

• Holding the Line on Infrastructure Spending: 55
• The European: 79
• Savings in: 119
• A Defense Budget: 141
• Flexible Ground Forces: 181
• Flexible Power Projection for a Dynamic: 211
• Conclusion and Recommendations: 253
• Contributors: 269

Popular passages

Page 85 - agreed that the EU must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO. 8 The‎

Page 84 - the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises.‎

Page 83 - a common foreign and security policy" (CFSP), including "the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence.‎

Page 128 - the transparency of strategic nuclear warhead inventories and the destruction of strategic nuclear warheads and any other jointly agreed technical and organizational measures, to promote the irreversibility of deep reductions including prevention of a rapid increase in the number of warheads.‎

Page 29 - This is particularly important in a constantly evolving and unpredictable security environment. The United States can never know with certainty when or where the next major theater war will occur, who the next adversary will be, how an enemy will fight, who will join in a coalition, or precisely what demands will be placed on US forces.‎

Page 84 - Petersberg tasks"): "humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks, and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peace-making.‎

Page 85 - by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO.‎

Page 85 - be able to deploy within sixty days and sustain for at least one year military forces of up to 50,000-60,000 persons capable of the full range of Petersberg tasks.‎

Page 270 - Dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, and‎

About the author

Cynthia Jane Williams was an American actress and producer, known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcom Happy Days, and Laverne & Shirley. She also appeared in American Graffiti and The Conversation. She was born on August 22, 1947 and died on February 15, 2023. Her career began in the 1970s in prestigious movies like Travels with My Aunt (with Maggie Smith, directed by George Cukor) and American Graffiti (with Ron Howard, Harrison Ford, and Richard Dreyfuss and directed by George Lucas). Williams focused on theater in her later years, and had performed in shows across the country, including the musical Nunsense. She lived near Palm Springs, California.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Holding the Line: U.S. Defense Alternatives for the Early 21st Century; BCSIA studies in international security, ISSN 2575-6575; Holding the Line: U.S. Defense Alternatives for the Early 21st Century, Cindy Williams; Monograph, National Vocational Guidance Association (U.S.).
• Editor: Cindy Williams
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: MIT Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0262731401, 9780262731409
• Length: 289 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Economics / General; History / Military / United States; Political Science / General; Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy; Political Science / Public Policy / Military Policy; Political Science / Security (National & International); Technology & Engineering / Military Science