March 21, 2002

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: TOM DONNELLY, Deputy Executive Director

SUBJECT: Defense

The superb performance of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan and the costs of continuing operations in the war on terrorism and elsewhere around the world have diverted attention from the overall state of America’s armed forces. While the Bush Administration has decided to increase defense spending, operations in Central Asia and honest accounting for programs like military retirement, health care and other necessities will consume almost all of the new money. As field commanders have told Congress in testimony over the past several weeks, the overall health of the military is problematic. For instance:

• Gen. Joseph Ralston, commander of U.S. forces in Europe and of all NATO forces, told the House Armed Services Committee, "I do not have the forces in EUCOM today to carry out [the command’s] missions….I have not had a Marine amphibious ready group [in the European theater] since October of last year." The same is true of aircraft carriers, AWACS and other electronic surveillance aircraft, and other "low-density, high-demand" units and systems.
  
  
• Adm. Dennis Blair, head of U.S. forces in the Pacific, reports that his command "does not have adequate forces to carry out our mission in the Pacific if operations in the Central Command continue at their current pace." The Pacific theater has been without a carrier "for quite some time." Blair also suffers from shortages of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.
  
  
• Gen. William Kernan, who as commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command oversees 80 percent of the forces stationed in the United States, sees an "overstretched" military, struggling to keep up with the demands of global operations and "fraying around the edges right now." Spare parts are passed off from one unit to another when they deploy. Because of the war in Afghanistan, "we have depleted our supply" of precision-guided weapons "to unacceptably low levels." Training has suffered, and demands on personnel are "increasing with no end in sight." Kernan believe the Army needs 40,000 more soldiers; the Air Force an increase of 6,000; Navy, 3,000 and Marine Corps 2,400.
  

The Bush Doctrine of American global leadership rests upon the presumption of U.S. military preeminence. This is the true measure of whether we are spending enough on defense and fielding sufficient forces. The commanders in the field unanimously say that they are not.