There's plenty of blame to go around. Right after the first gulf war, GHW Bush announced the Peace Dividend and The New World Order. It's what politicians do, right before the next big war. At Pearl Harbor, they were shocked by the Zero vs. the Brewster Buffalo. In Korea there was Task Force Smith and the MiG 15. I'm pretty sure there were Allied and German planes that had us outclassed at the beginning of WW I.
Now we see the threat increasing around us as we demilitarize again. Nothing new.