Here we go again. For the third time in the last decade, Congress has established a bipartisan group of outside experts to analyze whether the proposed defense budget program is large enough to implement the current defense strategy. Not surprisingly, the outside group, known as the National Defense Strategy Commission (NDSC), like its 2010 and 2014 predecessors argues that significantly more money is needed by the Pentagon or else there will be dire consequences for the nation. According to the NDSC, the Trump administration plan to spend about $3.7 trillion on the Pentagon from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2024, or about $750 billion per year, is not adequate to support its National Defense Strategy. The commission argues that the Pentagon must spend a minimum of $4.2 trillion over this time, or about $100 billion more a year, than the Trump plan if it is to adequately protect this nation.
The above excerpt was originally published in The National Interest.
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