National Defense and the Debt

CNN has an item of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, traveling in the Midwest in weekend and telling people that our debt is the top national security issue,  Here is the item on line.

"The most significant threat to our national security is our debt," he told CNN Wednesday. "And the reason I say that is because the ability for our country to resource our military -- and I have a pretty good feeling and understanding about what our national security requirements are -- is going to be directly proportional -- over time, not next year or the year after, but over time -- to help our economy.

"That's why it's so important that the economy move in the right direction, because the strength and the support and the resources that our military uses are directly related to the health of our economy over time."

This AM I was skimming through Stephen Ambrose's Eisenhower:  Soldier and President, looking for a specific quotation,♠ and noticed the fact that President Eisenhower met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff a number of times and chided them not only for not appreciating the needs of their fellow Services and how there had to be trade-offs, but for not appreciating that the economy is, in the long run, key to sustaining our military power.

On the other hand, some wonder if a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior military advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the President, should be speaking on matters outside his assigned ken.  My answer is, first the example of President Eisenhower, but second the example of the National War College, which then General Eisenhower helped found, which initially had a curriculum that included such issues and still does today.  This is part of learning national security strategy, which includes all elements of national power.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Found it.  It was retired General Jimmy Doolittle telling the President about the nature of the Cold War in the back alleys of the world.