America's Future At Risk

The U.S. Defense budget is the only major federal outlay that has been reduced each and every year since 1985. To be sure, the end of the Cold War justified much of these reductions. The problem is while budgets have been reduced, hardware retired, and manpower shrunk, total military global operations have risen.

Not only have these obligations eaten way at modernization accounts and training time, but also they have taken the time away from long-term strategic planning. Today, there are many potential dangers threatening global peace. Many of these threats can and are being met by the competence of America's military forces.

But there are threats on the horizon that the U.S. is less prepared to deal with. For example, America's military relies heavily on space. As the U.S. withdraws forward-deployed hardware and manpower from overseas, its reliance on surveillance increases. According to United States Air Force General Howell M. Estes, III, former commander in chief of the North American Defense Command, "Space provides us with so many services today that we are now dependent on it. Put simply, space is becoming a 'vital national interest,' and because it is a source of national power, like oil today, it will be challenged by those who choose to do our country harm."

However, there are many threats to America's continued use of space. Russia, for example, has revealed that it already has an anti-satellite weapon system capable of destroying U.S. satellites. Moreover, there are indications that others countries have either acquired, or are acquiring this capability.

Many of America's low-earth orbit satellites are vulnerable to laser attacks that can blind certain imagery satellites. For example, according to the U.S. Defense Department, "Given China's current level of interest in laser technology, it is reasonable to assume Beijing would develop a weapon that could destroy satellites in the future." Finally, certain types of electronic warfare are capable of jamming the signals of some U.S. satellites. According to United State Air Force General Richard B. Myers, "We have already seen instances of jamming satellites by Indonesia, Turkey, and Iran."

In addition, even while Russia is reeling from an economic crisis and much of its military forces are in chaos; its military satellite program remains on track. For example, Russia continues to launch about 15 military satellites a year. These satellites may include reconnaissance, communications, and other types of military satellites. This compares to only about 10 satellites the U.S. launches each year.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic