America's Awesome Military
This is a summary of an article originally published by Foreign Affairs with the subheading: "and how to make it even better."
The authors argue for a new U.S. military strategy. They write that the military budget should be increased, and that these new funds should be distributed to the areas of greatest need, such as naval reforms and increasing personnel. The authors note that Russia is a major threat to U.S. interests because of its highly capable military; however, they also caution that policymakers should not exaggerate the Kremlin's geopolitical goals. They encourage the U.S. to strengthen its commitment to NATO, continue to send forces to Europe as a credible deterrent and call on NATO allies in Europe to contribute more. They caution against any further cuts to the military and claim that a large military budget will continue to allow the U.S. to "deter conflicts, rather than simply prevail in them."
Read the full article at Foreign Affairs.
Michael O'Hanlon
Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow and director research in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution specializing in U.S. defense strategy.
David Petraeus
David Petraeus is a retired U.S. Army general and former director of the CIA.
Flickr photo by U.S. Army shared under a CC BY 2.0 license.