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May
13, 2002 MEMORANDUM
TO: OPINION
LEADERS FROM:
GARY SCHMITT SUBJECT: Defense Budget I would like to draw
your attention to the article in the current Weekly Standard (“Put
Your Money Where Your War Is The long-term disparity
between U.S. strategic ends and military means that developed during the
Clinton years has not been remedied by the Bush Administration. Stripped
of immediate war-related expenses and mandatory personnel, health care
and other expenses, the president’s 2003 defense budget request includes
just $10 billion in new military capabilities. And, as a measure of gross
domestic product, the Bush defense plan foresees a decline in military
spending after this year. Though President Bush
repeatedly has said that the war on terrorism will be a long and difficult
struggle, there appears to be no urgent effort to rebuild U.S. military
forces after eight years of Clinton Administration neglect. Despite the
demands of current operations -- and with an invasion of Iraq very much
in prospect -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld opposes any increases
in military manpower. And reports in the press suggest that the termination
of the Army’s Crusader howitzer is simply the first in a series of
cuts in weapons programs. In sum, any hopes for a revitalized American military power must rest on the military’s “transformation” and a “revolution in military affairs.” But that’s a project that will take several decades to invent and to complete. In the meantime, U.S. troops will continue to have to do more with less. That is not a recipe for certain victory.
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”)
pointing out the continued shortfalls in Pentagon budgets.