The cold war, which once took 60 cents out of every defense dollar, is now history. With that threat gone, the U.S. Army and Marines could cut at least three infantry divisions. They could also kill the Black Hawk and Osprey chopper programs. The U.S. Air Force could mothball at least half of its nuclear-toting B-1 and B-2 bombers. It could stop producing the not-so-invisible B-2 and the flawed C-17 transport plane. The U.S. Navy could retire at least half of its carrier task forces and stop building Seawolf submarines. The Pentagon could kill the flawed Strategic Defense Initiative. The secretary of defense could cut his department’s staff in half. He could also close even more bases that serve no defense function except to provide jobs for votes to defend incumbent politicians.
President Reagan gave the four services whatever they wanted. He produced four fat-cat Cadillac engines that equipped the nation with extraordinary combat power. This was the force that took Panama in a blink of an eye and cleaned Saddam Hussein’s clock on the first tick. The implied threat of its strength contributed greatly to bringing down the Soviet “Evil Empire.” But in 1993, the landscape has changed. If the four-engine approach is not dropped, the chiefs of the various services are sure to resort to an old game. Instead of consolidating scarce resources to counter real threats, they will take away bits and pieces from each engine, leaving four shells-and nothing fit to run. By the year 2000, only the hollow forces will still be standing: hundreds of flagpoles and headquarters full of brass, but not enough properly equipped and trained warriors down on the ground where the slugs snap and blood flows.
The United States can be hard-hitting and fast-moving only if American warriors have the right force structure and the money to get out in the field to train. With limited dollars for defense, the only way this can be done is by consolidating roles and missions into one Ford Model A engine and cutting out every frill-from Fort Monroe, which is now protected by a 200-year-old moat, to Air Force II, the vice president’s plane.
The way for our defense machine to get smart and lean is sledgehammer simple: Secretary of Defense Les Aspin must start with a blank piece of paper. If he writes down the threats to America and lists President Clinton’s international political objectives, the forces needed to defend America will be obvious. Form follows function.
The only national danger to our soil, and then only with Boris Yeltsin gone and Dr. Strangelove back, will come from nuclear-tipped ICBMs still planted in the ruins of the former Soviet Union. Regional soreheads could draw us into a fight: a nuclear-armed North Korea or Iran or Saddam’s refanged Iraq. A cluster of ankle biters-Somalia, Cambodia, Bosnia-could suck the United States in with limited forces or as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
A Desert Storm equivalent of five carrier battle groups, 10 active ground divisions and a hard-hitting, high-tech air and missile strategic arm would be sufficient to take care of the main threats. Special Operations Forces and elements of the Regional Contingency Force could hand ankle biters.
Reformed and retooled, a New-Look Force will depend on mobility, spot-on intelligence, versatility, a high state of readiness and a new reserve, not the old boys’ play toys. Properly phased in, such a military force could be operational by the year 2000 with a price tag of less than half of what defense is costing the country today.
We must not preserve the blubber in the pork barrel while we lose lean beef. The brass need to look up and repeat the oath they took as lieutenants and ensigns. They’ll probably be surprised to hear that they swore to defend America, not their individual services.
