Free Republic

The late Rush Limbaugh had a way of summarizing the issues in a concise, pithy way. On matters regarding the armed services, he would always remind his audience that “the purpose of the military is to kill people and break things.” That’s not to say that there aren’t a thousand specific details about the military that are worth talking about. We have to discuss the force strength levels in peacetime and the force strength levels in time of war. We have to hammer out how much to pay the enlisted men and the officers, the infantry and the artillery, the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate blocked the National Defense Authorization Act on Monday amid objections from Republicans and some liberal Democrats, although lawmakers will keep working on the massive annual defense policy bill, which has become law for 60 straight years. The vote was 45-51, meaning the measure could not get the 60 "yes" votes needed to advance toward passage in the 100-member Senate. The NDAA, which normally passes with strong bipartisan support, is closely watched by a broad swath of industry and other interests as it determines everything from how many ships are bought to pay increases for soldiers...

In 2006, I deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, and returned in early 2007. Within a month, I started getting sick with persistent chronic bronchitis that would come and go, even when I felt healthy. In 2010, after two and a half years of tests and doctors’ visits, the VA determined that I’d suffered permanent damage to my small airways as a result of “whatever you were exposed to over there.” (That’s a direct quote from my then-VA pulmonologist, and I’ll never forget it.) In 2017, I first heard about the Burn Pit issue and realized that my illness, which had grown...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday touted securing the support of half of the Senate Democrats for his amendment to defund the Pentagon by 10 percent and invest in “distressed communities” instead. Sanders’ amendment to cut 10 percent of the Pentagon’s budget to invest in “human needs” gained support from 23 members of the Senate Democrat Caucus — half of the 45 Democrats in the Senate. The support was not enough to get the amendment passed and part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, but was a show of support from Democrats for defunding the military.

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a $738 billion defense bill that funds the US-Mexico border wall, the Space Force, and continued US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, handing President Donald Trump a big win... The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed in a 377 to 48 vote... The NDAA now moves to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it's expected to pass next week... The bill provides for a massive boost in military spending compared to 2019 — an increase of $22 billion — and authorizes the creation of a Space Force, a sixth branch of the military that...

As payback for POTUS Donald Trump’s emergency declaration along the U.S.-Mexico boundary, which freed up Pentagon funds he is using to build and rebuild portions of his promised border wall, House Democrats are now politicizing the 2020 defense budget, and at a time when Russian and Chinese threats, along with regional powers such as Iran and North Korea, are growing.

Before we delve into her new "argument," I'd like to make a point about why the conservative commentariat sometimes seems fixated on Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  First, she entered the national spotlight as a media fascination and darling -- a young woman of color who shook up the Democratic Party from the left by defeating an establishment fixture.  She wasn't randomly plucked from relative obscurity by right-wing writers or pundits for sport; she was elevated by a mainstream media that loves covering, and sympathizes with, rising liberal stars.  And please recall the DNC Chairman referring to her as "the future of...

Threats rising: Earlier this week, a bipartisan committee appointed by Congress released a report that should chill all Americans to the bone. The National Defense Strategy Commission, an independent entity whose board is appointed by the House and Senate Armed Services committees, concluded in a 116-page report that the United States’ military superiority advantages have so eroded over the past decade that it’s very possible and, in some scenarios even likely, America could lose a war to a major power competitor like Russia or China. That’s largely because the U.S. military has focused on fighting small, brush-fire wars like those...

Last month, Secretary of Defense James Mattis warned that if Congress doesn’t “remove the defense caps,” he said, “then we’re questioning whether or not America has the ability to survive.” This claim that insufficient increases in Pentagon spending threatens American security is flatly wrong. The real and present danger to our national security is the unecessary use of U.S. military power abroad. There are two key ways the faulty use of combat power abroad continues to deteriorate our security. The first is the purpose for which the military is used. The preamble to the Constitution explains that the military is...

Academics are upset that they don’t get as many chances as they would like to contribute to U. S. foreign policy. Maybe that's a good thing. On the one hand, most of them opposed the Iraq War, at least after the fact, Benjamin H. Friedman and Justin Logan show in an essay which appeared in the Winter 2016 issue of Strategic Studies Quarterly. On the other, "A 2004-2005 survey of international relations scholars asked, 'Do you think that the United States should increase its spending on national defense, keep it about the same, or cut it back?' Just short of...

The Senate has approved a 2016 Defense Department spending bill that earmarks nearly $1 billion to arm Syrian and Ukrainian rebels, including several batallions adopting neo-Nazi symbols and slogans. By a veto-proof 70-27 vote, the Senate voted on October 7 to approve the $612 billion Pentagon appropriation bill for 2016, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). While most of the items in the bill would never be approved were our government to be bound by the enumerated powers of the Constitution, a few of the provisions are particularly pernicious.

The “friendly fire” airstrike that killed five American soldiers in Afghanistan on June 9 is the first known case of a battlefield catastrophe that can be linked to automatic defense spending cuts that greatly curtailed prewar training. A review of the worst American fratricide in the long Afghanistan war also shows that the military’s official investigation faults a Green Beret commander, an Air Force air controller and the four-man crew on the B-1B bomber that conducted the errant strike. PHOTOS: Top 10 U.S. fighter jets But the investigation, headed by an Air Force general, does not question the use of...

Adam Kredo reports for the Washington Free Beacon that Obama is planning to cut America’s key reconnaissance fleet by 25 percent:

President Obama's latest budget proposal paints a troubling picture of America's fiscal future. Here's a startling snapshot: -- By 2024, the total national debt would rise from $17.4 trillion to nearly $25 trillion. -- By 2020, U.S. taxpayers would be paying more in interest on the debt than they would on the entire Defense budget. -- By 2017, those interest payments would be bigger than the budget for Medicaid. Despite Democratic claims that President Obama has tackled the deficit, the numbers give a sense of what fiscal hawks -- who have not given up their fight despite an election-year aversion...

The NYT reports that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will today announce plans to slash the United States Army’s fighting force to its smallest level since before World War II as well as eliminating an entire class of attack aircraft, including the fearsome A-10. Obama officials say that the smaller fighting force reflects budget realities and an end to large-scale foreign wars.

Hagel holds press briefing to discuss defense budget

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday that he has ordered a 20% cut in the ranks of the Pentagon’s top military officers and senior civilians. Beginning in 2015, and completed by 2019. Well, as we used to say: speed kills. The estimated 4,000 jobs at stake represent not only a fifth of those working at the highest levels of the U.S. military, but also represent about one-fifth — of 1% — of the U.S. military’s total full-time workforce. Hagel’s warning shot of budgetary pain to come marks the first time he has revealed action called for by the Strategic Choices...

Spend the money! Spend it all! Spend it now! That’s the distinct impression created by a recent e-mail sent by Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) contracting and budget officers to their colleagues. “Our available funding balances remain large in all appropriations — too large to spend” just on small supplemental funds often required by existing contracts, the June 27 e-mail said. DISA’s budget is $2 billion. “It is critical in our efforts to [spend] 100% of our available resources this fiscal year,” said the e-mail from budget officer Sannadean Sims and procurement officer Kathleen Miller. “It is also imperative that...

Hestilow encouraged readers to “copy and properly amend this letter to send to your own senators and members of the U.S. House.” The following is his letter in its entirety. The Honorable Senator John Cornyn, State of Texas United States Senate 517 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Re: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and that agencies preparation for war against citizens of the United States of America. Dear Senator Cornyn, It is with gravest concern that I write to you today concerning the recent appropriation of weapons by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that can only be...

Demoralizing Hagel tells military to prepare for cuts, ‘appreciate’ its ‘limits’ Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel tried to mollify worried military leaders Wednesday, speaking publicly for the first time about the Defense Department’s pressing budgetary woes. Widespread cuts to the defense budget have led DoD to impose furloughs on civilian employees, defer critical maintenance projects, and consider cutting benefits to military families. Military employees who attended Hagel’s speech at the National Defense University did not hesitate to express their fears, pressing Hagel to explain why benefits and salaries have been placed on DoD’s chopping block. “Why are we still furloughing?”...