The US is facing a national security and military crisis, and could lose in a war against Russia or China, a bipartisan congressional panel said in a report on Wednesday.
The US Congress had tasked the National Defense Strategy Commission to look at US President Donald Trump’s sweeping National Defense Strategy, which highlights a new era of “great power competition” with Moscow and Beijing.
The panel, run by a dozen former top Democratic and Republican officials, found that just as the US military faced budget cuts and diminishing military advantages, authoritarian nations such as China and Russia are pursuing buildups aimed “at neutralizing US strengths.”
“America’s military superiority — the hard-power backbone of its global influence and national security — has eroded to a dangerous degree,” the commission said.
ATROPHY
In their report, the panel found that the US’ focus on counterinsurgency operations this century has resulted in it slipping in other areas such as missile defense, cyber and space operations, and anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare.
“Many of the skills necessary to plan for and conduct military operations against capable adversaries — especially China and Russia — have atrophied,” the report said.
It lambasts “political dysfunction and decisions made by both major political parties,” especially budget control measures implemented in 2011.
“The convergence of these trends has created a crisis of national security for the United States,” the report said.
While the strategy points the Pentagon in the right direction, it “too often rests on questionable assumptions and weak analysis,” it said.
“It leaves unanswered critical questions regarding how the United States will meet the challenges of a more dangerous world,” the report added.
BALANCE ERODED
The commission also said that across Asia and Europe, US influence is being steadily eroded and military balances have shifted in “decidedly adverse” ways that have raised the risk of conflict.
“The US military could suffer unacceptably high casualties and loss of major capital assets in its next conflict,” the commission said. “It might struggle to win, or perhaps lose, a war against China or Russia. The United States is particularly at risk of being overwhelmed should its military be forced to fight on two or more fronts simultaneously.”
Although the Pentagon this year has a budget of more than US$700 billion, far more than Russia and China combined, the commission said that the sum is still “clearly insufficient” to meet the goals laid out in the strategy.
Commissioners made a series of recommendations, including a 3 percent to 5 percent annual increase in the defense budget.
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