WAND Quarterly Bulletin

The True Scoop on the “Military in Decline” Talk
By Deborah Walden

In the battles of the 2000 presidential campaign, "the military in decline" has become a repetitive refrain. It is true that military spending has decreased since the peak of the Cold War, and there has been a drop in active-duty personnel. But no one—including the Pentagon—thought military spending and personnel should stay at peak Cold War levels. In fact, recent reductions approximately follow a 1990 Base Force plan issued by former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney during President George Bush’s administration.

The current Pentagon budget of $310 billion is more than enough to meet and even exceeds our national defense and security needs. Indeed, our military is not in decline. The very members of Congress complaining about military decline are the same ones who refuse to allow cost-saving measures (such as closing additional redundant bases and requiring the Pentagon to adopt a market-efficient procurement process). And they insist on buying expensive weapons the Pentagon does not even want, such as the V-22 Osprey. Unnecessary, unrequested weapons systems— which end up taking far too long to build and costing far too much—are soaking up Pentagon dollars.

…readiness problems are not caused by inadequate military budgets, but rather by a wasteful and irresponsible, often politically-motivated misallocation of existing defense dollars to military programs and projects in states of key members of Congress. –U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN)

Unfortunately, the two major presidential candidates propose Pentagon budget increases. Embarking on a military build-up and pouring billions of dollars into the Pentagon budget will not buy more security. Indeed, it would threaten our nation’s economic health, as happened during the Reagan military build-up of the 1980s, when deficits skyrocketed and the economy plunged.

If the Pentagon does one day ‘hollow out,’ it is less likely to be because America’s leaders haven’t given the military sufficient money than because they haven’t given military affairs sufficient thought. –Gregg Easterbrook, The New Republic (9/11/2000)

For nearly 50 years the United States has pursued policies designed to make our military number one in the world. We have succeeded, but at an enormous cost to the very people it is designed to protect. Behind our military might lie crumbling schools, poor educational achievement, millions of uninsured Americans, decaying infrastructure, contaminated land and water, and cities and states struggling to meet the basic needs of their people.

What we need in this time of peace and prosperity is not another massive military build-up. Now is the time to invest in education, protecting our children, health care, and the environment. Now is the perfect time to redirect our national resources toward these urgent domestic security needs.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

–President Dwight Eisenhower (1953)

WAND is organizing women— women state legislators, women in Congress, women activists, community leaders, and high school girls—to call for new federal budget priorities that reflect the values and meet the needs of women, families and communities. We are creating a movement for change. Join us!

Of course we need to spend every penny we need on a sound national defense
—but not a penny more.
–Former U.S. Representative Elizabeth Furse (D-OR)

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