Col. Macgregor on Massive Budget Cuts and Military Reconfiguration

Although there are important elements I disagree with -- in some cases strenuously -- US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor (ret.) has written an important piece on the fundamental changes and massive budget reductions that are needed to improve America's ability to survive into the future. 

 

Macgregor gets the three essentials right, I believe: 1) the threat America faces is now massively reduced; its future character may very well not be what conventional wisdom expects, and Americans need to fundamentally change how we interact with the rest of the world, 2) before any changes are effected in the size, character and funding of our armed forces, a comprehensive audit must be successfully and immediately completed to understand how we spend our money, and funding should be withheld unless and until that is done, and 3) massive changes are needed in our armed forces and their leadership, organization, staffing, weapons, and more.

 

Macgregor's two part article, "Lean Mean Fighting Machine" and "A Radical Plan for Cutting the Defense Budget and Reconfiguring the Military" can be found at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/26/lean_mean_fighting_machine?page=0,0 and http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/26/a_radical_plan_for_cutting_the_defense_budget_and_reconfiguring_the_us_military?page=0,0.

 

It is published by Foreign Policy; I believe it merits your thorough reading and consideration.

_____________________________
Winslow T. Wheeler
Director
Straus Military Reform Project
Center for Defense Information
301 791-2397