Compass Points - Call to Arms
US military must get prepared.
Compass Points - Call to Arms
US military must get prepared.
October 21, 2024
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Members of Congress are deeply concerned about the US military and the US national defense.
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To get our national security right and to ensure that we maintain a strong national defense, we must figure out how the Defense Department can innovate quickly enough to keep pace with potential adversaries. Though increasing authorities have been given to DOD, it continues to struggle to adapt and pivot at the same rate as some competitors.
As senior members of the House Armed Services Committee, we are concerned that unless we recalibrate our approach to defense technology acquisition, we will continue on the slow, costly and unsustainable path that threatens our national defense and the rules-based international order.
-- US Representatives Mike Rogers, Adam Smith, Don Bacon and Ro Khanna
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The National Defense Strategy Commission says the US defense is not prepared for current and future threats.
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The commission found that the U.S. military lacks both the capabilities and capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat. It must do a better job of incorporating innovative technology; field more and higher-capability platforms, software, and munitions; and deploy innovative operational concepts to employ them together better.
-- National Defense Strategy Commission
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What is needed? The National Defense Strategy Commission calls for a bipartisan "call to arms."
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A bipartisan “call to arms” is urgently needed so that the U.S. can make the major changes and significant investments now rather than wait for the next Pearl Harbor or 9/11. First and foremost, our political leaders must put an end to the political polarization that exists today. That polarization has contributed to our current weakened national security posture.
Additionally, our political leaders should join forces with our military leaders and communicate clearly to the public about the threats we face and the need to act with urgency. We are facing the most challenging and dangerous international security environment since World War II. The support and resolve of the American public are indispensable. Americans will respond in the way they always have when they are told the truth.
-- -- National Defense Strategy Commission
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It is sad that when the US national defense is not as strong and capable as it should be, the Marine Corps is also not as strong and capable as it should be. It is sad because at one time the Marine Corps above all the military services was expected to be 'most ready when the nation is least ready.'
Many experts say the key to improving the military is technology and innovation. Technology is important and innovation is important too. But the wrong technology, wrongly applied, can do tremendous damage. And innovating rapidly in the wrong direction means moving faster and faster away from the better direction.
The Marine Corps has innovated in the wrong direction. In an effort to make itself ready for the China threat, the Marine Corps might have embarked on an all out blitz to upgrade, renew, and enhance the Marine Corps global, crisis response MAGTF. Unfortunately, the Marine Corps took its focus away from globe crisis response. The result is the Marine Corps today has imperiled itself and weakened the national defense.
As the National Defense Strategy Commission warns, it is time for a "call to arms." What is needed is a "call to arms" not just for the Department of Defense but also for the US Marine Corps. Innovation will be part of the answer. While innovation must be rapid, it must never be hasty. Innovation should serve side by side for a time with current systems and processes. Innovation must prove itself in battle before proven tools are destroyed. Innovation must never be pursued for its own sake. Innovation must demonstrate at every step that it is more than only a theory, a possibility, or a guess. Innovation must be tested and vetted by operators.
Compass Points salutes both the US representatives and the members of the National Defense Strategy Commission who are calling for a stronger and more capable military. The world grows more dangerous day by day. The DOD must get better prepared. The Marine Corps also must get better prepared. The United States must be surrounded and protected by a military and a Marine Corps organized, trained, and equipped to deter all and to defeat all.
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Real Clear Defense - 10/21/2024
National Defense Strategy Commission: We Are Not Prepared
By Tom Jurkowsky
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Military Times - 10/18/2024
Future of US defense depends on culture shift prioritizing innovation
By US Representatives Mike Rogers, Adam Smith, Don Bacon and Ro Khanna
I’m afraid the public has zero interest in our geopolitics.
The American public is NOT the public of old. Today, most Americans care about videos on TikTok or whatever the Kardashians and other Hollywood types are doing. The young college people are only interested in the flavor of the day that is being pushed on them by activists professors. And, most of our politicians are no better; all they care about is their Party’s political power.
The only way to way for Americans to wake to the threat is for us to get entangled in a major conflict that will have a major effect on every corner of our collective lives.
As for the Marine Corps; they are nowhere near ready to confront China should Xi Jinping pulls the trigger on Taiwan…he just might do it in the very short term.
“The commissioners contend that the U.S. public is largely unaware of the dangers the U.S. faces, or the costs required to adequately prepare. They do not appreciate the strength of China and its partnerships or the ramifications to daily life if a conflict were to erupt.”
Two items of note from the "Commission on PPBE Reform Full Report" (pp. 130-131) referenced by the Rogers/Smith/Bacon/Khanna Article. I think that focusing on enacting these two recommendations to the exclusion of all else would substantially improve the Budget issues overall in a practical manner. More so, these two changes by themselves would significantly improve beyond the status quo without severe risk of creating new problems.
Item 1: "#4. Transform the Budget Structure
• The Commission recommends transforming the structure of DoD appropriations by reorganizing the budget structure to a proposed structure of Service/Component, Major Capability Activity Area,
System/Program, and lifecycle. The recommendation treats Military Personnel (MILPERS) as a
standalone capability area and recommends realignment of some Operating and Maintenance funds
(O&M) while retaining broader O&M MCAAs for general operations."
Item 2: "#8B. Allow Reprogramming of a Small Percentage of an Entire Appropriations Account with
Regular Congressional Briefings and Oversight
• The Commission recommends a longer-term replacement of existing BTR thresholds for individual
movements of funds at the budget line item level with an approach that would allow the Department
to move a small percentage of the funds within an account in the year of execution with a quarterly
report to the congressional defense committees. The Commission recommends that the
Department be authorized to reallocate up to a specified amount of funding within each
appropriations account, based on historic norms of BTR transfers within such accounts."
(https://ppbereform.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Commission-on-PPBE-Reform_Full-Report_6-March-2024_FINAL.pdf)