(Mis)Understanding American Power

In Monday’s debate between President Obama and Governor Romney on foreign policy there was a good amount of discussion about strength, power and weakness. The candidates both agreed that the basis of America’s strength in the world is its economic might at home. In the 21^st century, maximizing American power demands a clear-eyed understanding of how to both protect and project that power – as well as how to pay for it.

U.S. power is multifaceted and springs from the health of our economy and society:

Economic Power:  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs o staff Martin Dempsey explains, “truly, we are only as strong as those three pillars — diplomatic, military and economic — can interrelate with each other to achieve a common outcome.” Some senior advisors within the GOP have joined bipartisan calls for a balanced approach that recognizes the economy is the foundation of American power. Robert Zoellick, who leads Romney’s transition team, explains with an anecdote: “Earlier this year, Bob Carr, Australia’s foreign minister and a longtime friend of the United States, observed with Aussie clarity: ‘The United States is one budget deal away from restoring its global preeminence.’… Carr’s insight — that the connection between economics and security will determine America’s future — is sound and persuasive.” [Martin Dempsey, 1/12/12. Robert Zoellick, 11/12]

Military Power: Richard Danzig, chairman of the board at the Center for a New American Security and former Secretary of the Navy told CNN, “The reality is we have the strongest Navy in the world by far. It’s bigger than the next 13 navies put together and 11 of those are allies of ours and we’re spending in an intelligent way to make that Navy yet stronger, and that’s basically unassailable position, assailed only by throwing up a lot of smoke, dust and distraction.” Yet, Gov. Romney has consistently claimed the Navy under Obama is at its lowest point since 1917. A Washington Post fact check reveals: In 1917, the Navy had 342 ships, “Using the 342 figure as our low point, it turns out that the number of naval ships was lower than that many times since 1917 — including for seven years in the 1930s and then every year since 2000. Moreover, as we noted before — and Obama echoed in the debate — the makeup of the Navy was so different that it’s really a case of apples and oranges, or rather, comparing gunboats to aircraft carriers.  As the current Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, put it earlier this year: ‘It’s like comparing the telegraph to the smart phone. They’re just not comparable.’” [Washington Post, 10/25/12. Richard Danzig via Anderson Cooper, 10/23/12]

Diplomatic Power: As Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense under both President Obama and President Bush, has stated, “There has to be a change in attitude in the recognitions of the critical role that agencies like State and AID play, for them to play the leading role that I think they need to play.” Gov. Romney’s foreign policy strategy fails to consider the role of diplomatic power entirely. As Gordon Adams, former manager of the national security budget in the Clinton administration and fellow at the Stimson Center, explains, “I don’t know Romney’s position on foreign assistance, I don’t know it on AIDS or global health, I don’t know it on economic support funds or security assistance funding…This is just sort of a blank space, details to be determined.” But there are even more worrying signs. The budget proposed by Paul Ryan earlier this year sought dramatic cuts – 10  percent in one year – to the State Department. At the time of the proposal, US News and World Report explained, “Ryan’s plan would cut foreign affairs spending from $47.8 billion in 2012 to $43 billion in 2013. Ryan wants to shrink those funds, used for the State Department and for development work in other nations, until 2016, when it would bottom out at $38 billion.” [Robert Gates, 8/23/10. Gordon Adams via Mother Jones, 10/22/12. US News and World Report, 3/23/12]

A true strategy for power connects ends, ways and means. NSN Senior Advisor Major General Paul Eaton recently spoke with National Defense Magazine: “NSN senior adviser Paul D. Eaton, retired Army major general… said world events prove that the United States must find a way to rely less on military force, and more on a mix of diplomatic and economic approaches. Post-war drawdowns are ‘gut wrenching,’ said Eaton, who was on active duty when the Army downsized after the Vietnam War and the Cold War. The cutbacks that the Obama administration recommended are modest by comparison, he said. ‘The Army exists to fight and win the nation’s wars,’ Eaton said. Its size, however, needs to match the nation’s foreign policy appetite for military force.” And Travis Sharp of the Center for a New American Security has noted, “A true strategy connects ends, ways and means. Any defense review that ignores real world budgetary constraints resembles a dream journal more than a military strategy.”

Governor Romney has been unable to outline how he would pay for his military plus-ups, or what strategic ends they would serve. As former Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and National Security Advisor Colin Powell described Romney’s plans for the economy today, “‘let’s cut taxes and compensate for that with other things.’ But that compensation does not cover all of the cuts intended or the new expenses associated with defense.” The hallmark of Romney’s proposed foreign policy is to increase Pentagon spending to 4% of GDP, which has been estimated to cost $2.1 trillion over the next decade. But as the Washington Post notes, “Given his unwillingness to contemplate tax increases or other revenue measures, military spending is one more area where Mr. Romney’s math doesn’t add up.” [Colin Powell, 10/25/12. Washington Post, 10/18/12. National Defense, 10/23/12. Travis Sharp, 2/12]

 

What We’re Reading

A Libyan militant suspected of involvement in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was killed during a raid by Egyptian security forces in Cairo.

Egypt brokered a tentative ceasefire between Israel and Gaza.

Russian investigators raided the offices of a defense ministry firm and opened five cases of fraud against the company, stepping up a crackdown on multi-billion dollar corruption in the defense industry.

The U.S. embassy in Moscow expressed concern over the detention of a Russian opposition activist in Kiev and his transfer to Moscow.

Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara will resign his post and form a political party in a bid to gain power in the country’s central government.

China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, is replacing up to eight of its top military chiefs as a part of the country’s broader leadership transition.

Gold has become the primary source of income for armed groups in eastern Congo, flowing to jewelry stores across the world.

Haitian police detectives are investigating the son of one of Haiti’s prominent families for his alleged role at the center of a kidnapping ring.

The crew of the Argentine ship seized in Ghana, the Libertad, arrived home on a charter flight.

WikiLeaks website began publishing what it said were more than 100 U.S. Defense Department files detailing military detention policies in camps in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay.

Commentary of the Day

David Lewis and Adama Diarra analyze the rise of al Qaeda-linked gunmen called “gangster jihadists.”

Alexander J. Motyl and Rajan Menon discuss the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

Karen DeYoung explains how the presidential counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, is changing the current tactics on counterterrorism.