Let’s Keep the NDAA Focused on Defense
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By Dakota Wood
August 01, 2020
Our military services have made progress in recouping readiness. But it hasn’t been easy – and the job isn’t finished.
Over the past few years, observers and practitioners of military affairs have noted the extraordinary challenges facing the U.S. military as a consequence of the damage done to it by the Budget Control Act of 2011, sustained counter-insurgency operations since 9-11, and the increasingly lethal and complex security environment posed by the rise of very capable state and non-state competitors. Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis was so shocked by the condition of the military when he took charge of the Department in 2017 that he made regaining combat readiness and lethality his top priority.
Things are trending in the right direction again, but there is more work to be done when it comes to modernizing key items of equipment, as well as re-growing a military widely believed to be too small for the tasks given it. Key documents such as the National Defense Strategy, the work of the Commission charged to assess the NDS, and numerous commentators have noted the increased challenges that come with a return to “great power competition†and the impressive investments other countries are making in advanced capabilities.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/08/01/lets_keep_the_ndaa_focused_on_defense_115512.html
