Follow us on social

42155303051_7d9ab63179_k

Kori Schake shakes the money tree for the DoD

DC establishmentarian says we've allowed our military to atrophy, and need more than $1 trillion a year to restore its 'reach and its punch.'

Analysis | Military Industrial Complex

There’s apparently no limit to how high D.C. hawks want to push the Pentagon budget, whether it will make America or the world a safer place or not. The latest case in point is Kori Schake’s latest piece in Foreign Affairs, which calls for a Pentagon budget well in excess of $1 trillion per year, an astonishing figure that is neither wise nor affordable given other urgent security priorities, from preventing pandemics to reducing the ravages of climate change.

When D.C. analysts start throwing around numbers like Schake’s, it’s important to remember how high the Pentagon’s budget is already. The Biden administration’s proposal of $773 billion for Fiscal Year 2023 -- $813 billion if activities like nuclear warhead development at the Department of Energy are included – is well over $100 billion more than the highest level reached during the Cold War, and far more than was spent at the height of the Korean or Vietnam Wars. The United States already spends ten times what Russia does on its military, and three times what China does. And that doesn’t even include spending by U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, which is on the rise. 

America is spending too much on the Pentagon, not too little. To the extent that there are problems with U.S. defenses, they are related to a misguided strategy, gross mismanagement, and special interest politics that put parochial economic concerns above considerations of what systems and forces will best defend the country at this moment in its history.

To be fair, there is one thing – and perhaps only one -- in Schake’s essay that I agree with, her assertion that “the United States . . . must make sure that its strategy matches the resources it is willing to dedicate to the country’s defense.”  Our current, “cover-the-globe” military strategy is a recipe for disaster that could not be successfully implemented at any price. We need a new strategy, not more money for the Department of Defense.

Both the 2018 National Defense Strategy crafted during the Trump years and the new one released by the Biden administration late last month outline far too many missions, from winning a war against one nuclear-armed “great power” while holding off another, to continuing to wage a global war on terrorism, to preparing to fight regional conflicts with Iran or North Korea. If America should have learned one lesson after spending $8 trillion on its post-9/11 wars, it is that guns and money are no substitute for a keen understanding of the limits of military power. Even before we get to the question of how best to address the challenges posed by China and Russia, our leaders should at least acknowledge that our globe-spanning counter-terror and nation building efforts have been dismal failures, and reduce the U.S. global military footprint accordingly. And as difficult as it can be, diplomacy offers a far better route to curbing Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs than war or the threat of war.

This brings us back to Schake’s essay. She suggests that the deployment of one aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean and a few thousand extra troops to Europe to address the Ukraine crisis will greatly weaken America’s ability to deal with China. Nothing could be further from the truth. America has 1.3 million troops under arms and 11 aircraft carriers. Current U.S. deployments to Europe related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine represent a tiny fraction of America’s military power. If there is a further buildup in Europe, it should be financed by the United States’ NATO allies, not by boosting the Pentagon budget.

By all means, let’s align America’s spending on the Pentagon with its strategy. But first let’s develop a more realistic strategy that recognizes that the military is only one of many tools for pursuing security, and that it should be funded accordingly, at considerably lower levels than currently prevail.


Dr. Kori Schake (now Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute) joins Maj. Matt Cavanaugh, Fellow, Modern War Institute at West Point (left) and Lt. Gen. (ret.) Ben Freakley, Professor of Practice of Leadership and Special Adviser to the President, ASU at New America's Future of War Conference in 2018. (New America/Flickr/Creative Commons)
Analysis | Military Industrial Complex
Venezuela regime change means invasion, chaos, and heavy losses
Top photo credit: U.S. Marines infiltrate the beach head as part of an amphibious demonstration at Hat Yao Beach, Kingdom of Thailand, during Cobra Gold 2014, Feb. 14 (US Marine Corps photo)

Venezuela regime change means invasion, chaos, and heavy losses

Latin America

Maximum pressure has long been President Donald Trump’s stance towards the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela — he slapped crippling sanctions on the country during his first term — but in recent days the administration has pushed the stakes even higher.

The Caribbean is currently hosting an astonishing quantity of American naval and air assets, including four Arleigh Burke–class destroyers, a guided missile cruiser, an attack submarine, a Marine Amphibious Ready Group, and a flight of F-35 multirole fighters.

keep readingShow less
Syria’s ticking time bomb
Syrian security forces walk together along a street, after clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida early on Wednesday, collapsing a ceasefire announced just hours earlier that aimed to put an end to days of deadly sectarian bloodshed, in Sweida, Syria July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri

Syria’s ticking time bomb

Middle East

In March of this year, Laya’s world came crashing down.

Following a series of skirmishes in the coastal region of Syria, the country’s transitional government had mobilized forces to put down what it saw as a brewing rebellion among Alawites, a minority offshoot of Shia Islam and the religion of former President Bashar al-Assad. The operation quickly turned into a bloodbath.

keep readingShow less
Israel wants to pay US pastors a stipend to spread the word
Top image credit: Shutterstock AI

Israel wants to pay stipend to US pastors to spread the word

Washington Politics

A newly-created firm called Show Faith by Works is embarking on a “geofencing” campaign to target Christian churches and colleges across the American Southwest with pro-Israel advertisements. The pastors and congregations themselves are seemingly unaware of this campaign, and some have concerns with Israel’s methods to target Christians.

According to the firm’s filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Show Faith by Works will “geofence the actual boundaries of every Major (sic) church in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Coloardo (sic) and all Christian Colleges during worship times” and then “track attendees and continue to target [them] with ads” on behalf of Israel. The geofencing campaign is part of a larger $3.2 million contract that also includes trying to hire celebrity spokespeople and paying pastors to produce content.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.