Military
AUDIO: National Security Experts, Congressional Leader Pre-empt, Call Out Defense Hearings
May 18, 2012
Washington, D.C. – On May 14, the National Security Network hosted Ranking House Budget Committee Member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D – MD) and national security experts Douglas Wilson, former assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, and Heather Hurlburt, executive director of NSN, for a press call to oppose a congressional bait and switch that puts tax [...]
Democrats Rumble With GOP In Defense-Heavy Districts Over Automatic Pentagon Cuts
May 15, 2012
By Brian Beutler May 14, 2012 | TPM A months-long fight in Congress over how to avoid automatic, across-the-board cuts to defense programs set to kick in next year is increasingly bleeding in to battleground districts home to significant numbers of military service members and contractors. With the Jan. 1 deadline nearing, and the parties [...]
Out of the Mainstream, Out of Ideas
May 14, 2012
As nuclear talks re-open with Iran, Europe’s economic future is in doubt and the U.S. prepares to host world leaders for two summits, the presidential campaign has revealed how deeply the conservative foreign policy establishment is riven by infighting. As the candidate’s advisers say they are unclear on his views, the American public, our allies [...]
Early Budgets Don’t Match Security Priorities
May 10, 2012
This year’s national security budget process has set new lows for disregarding the best advice of military and national security leaders and contravening members’ pledges of fiscal responsibility and strategic focus. Coming out of committee, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2013 wades back into how we try terror suspects and tries [...]
Preventing Atrocities
April 23, 2012
Today at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama announced the creation of a new Atrocities Prevention Board, a high-level interagency group that will draw upon varied and specialized tools of the United States Government to prevent mass atrocities and genocide. Pulling these technical tools together matters — recent years have [...]
National Security: Competing Visions, Single Reality
April 18, 2012
With the Republican presidential primary winding down, two distinct visions of national security are emerging. Conservatives and military experts have criticized the GOP for approaches to foreign affairs that, as Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan put it, dispense with “discretion, prudence, nuance.” Conservatives now face the challenge of describing clearly what they stand for [...]
Conservatives, Budgets and Defense
March 20, 2012
Today, House Republicans led by Paul Ryan are releasing a budget that aims to prevent the so-called “sequester” cuts from taking effect in 2013. That budget breaks the link between defense and domestic spending that served as the foundation for last year’s bipartisan budget agreement. The Ryan budget — which has been reported not just [...]
Budgeting for Strategy, Investing for Jobs
February 16, 2012
Military leaders emphasized this week that the military budget unveiled Monday is “what’s best for America” – they helped craft that budget based on our national security needs. The reductions in spending are modest, and they flow from the Budget Control Act, which was passed by Congress in a bipartisan fashion. Reducing the growth of [...]
Politics, Claims and Counter-Claims: How to Evaluate the Budget
February 9, 2012
Monday’s release of the administration’s budget request for 2013 will feature piles of documents and layers of political claims and counter-claims. To evaluate them, ask whether proposals meet three tests: The need for spending that secures the economy that undergirds our security as well as keeps us safe. The need for spending priorities that are [...]
Romney’s Defense Spending Plans
February 8, 2012
As the White House prepares to release its budget on Monday, the next few days will likely see conservatives criticizing current plans for military spending while outlining their own views. Experts say attacks are more about politics than security-particularly since the budget numbers grow from a plan that was passed by Congress and paired with [...]
