April 13, 2017
Military keeps American people and business safe
It appears that President Trump's proposed budget will not survive first contact on the Hill. The large cuts to some agencies, such as the State Department, and cultural investment, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, have been decried by Republicans and Democrats alike. The conversation has, however, spurred a discussion about what the defense budget should be and do.
It's easy to focus on what the U.S. military does overseas, not to mention how expensive it appears to be. Yet we need to remember that defense spending enables the benefits of peace at home. U.S. Air Force and Navy assets defend the satellites and undersea cables that facilitate today's advanced telecommunications — enabling everything from GPS to the financial transactions that underpin modern commerce. Everyday Americans feel these benefits when they order a Lyft on their mobile phone, pull up a list of florists near their office from their desktop, or file their taxes from the comfort of their home computer. As Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet (Google's parent company), reminded a defense audience last week, defense spending built the internet — and spawned an entire industry.
Read the full article at the Times-Call.
More from CNAS
-
Confronting Chaos: a New Concept for Information Advantage
Commentary
The side that can deal with chaos and operate more effectively with degraded systems will likely seize the initiative....
By Chris Dougherty
-
Afghanistan Veteran Says War Might be Over for U.S. but Not for Afghans
Video
Jason Dempsey, an adjunct senior fellow of the Military, Veterans, and Society program at the Center for a New American Security, and a military veteran deployed twice to Afgh...
By Dr. Jason Dempsey
-
Sharper: Afghanistan 20 Years Later
Commentary
The chaotic end to the war in Afghanistan bookends two decades in which America changed irrevocably. Thousands of soldiers experienced dual wars, and multiple generations of v...
By Anna Pederson & Sydney Simon
-
Uncertain future for Afghanistan under Taliban rule
Video
NBC's Courtney Kube, retired Army Colonel Christopher Kolenda, and former adviser to U.S. Special Ops in Afghanistan Seth Jones join Andrea Mitchell to discuss what comes next...
By Christopher D. Kolenda
