Final US Gov

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Laura Abreu

Pos2041 National Government

Prof. Brower

06/10/2020

Downsizing of The Military

In 2017, the United States spent an estimated $600 billion on the military and the

country's national defence. The spending has risen every year since, and military spending

comprises 30% of the country's spending with every budget (Office of Management of

Budgets). However, Officials at the Pentagon still cry of insufficient funding from the federal

government, despite the country spending double what China, Russia, Iran and North Korea

collectively spend (International Institute of Strategic Studies, Par 5). To this end, this paper

assumes seeks to support the view for scaling down America’s military. The US Military

should be downsized to cut down on waste and, ensure it is more efficient in the services it

provides. Multiple reasons could act to support the downsizing of America's military

spending. Most of these reasons are rooted in the fact that the country's huge military

spending is difficult to justify on paper. Among the reasons why this is so include:

America Boasts Natural Security (Geographically, Technically and Economically)

The formation of militaries by nations is considered necessary when a nation faces significant

external threats. As an example, countries like Iran, Israel, North Korea and South Korea all

spend big on their military, in comparison to their GDP (International Institute of Strategic

Studies, Par 6). Unlike America, however, they are surrounded by many ‘enemies.’

Conversely, America is a rather secure nation and various factors contribute to this security.

Firstly, the country is large and shares a border with only, highly cordial nations, Canada and

Mexico. War erupting from these two nations is highly unlikely and being separated from the

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rest of the world by two oceans acts as a natural defence against attack. The country's

technical prowess and economic superiority further act as defences against an attack, and few

other countries can rival America on this front.

America’s Perceived Enemies are Weak and Few

Secondly, all of America's perceived enemies have traditionally been weak and far in

between making large military spending unjustified. For example, North Korea, while

boasting a decent ballistic missile program and some nuclear arsenal, continues to struggle

with poverty and is dogged by constant power struggles internally (Friedman, par 5). Iran on

its part has funded a few extremist groups in the past such as Hezbollah to stir trouble in the

region but beyond that, the country is still unable to pose any real threat to America.

Little of the Military Spending Fights Terrorism

Finally, downsizing of the military should be considered as little of the amount spent

currently goes into fighting terrorism. According to Friedman (par 11), terrorism operations

can be considered to be part of the special operations and intelligence arm of the military.

The spending for this military vote head was some $100 billion in 2017, or one-sixth of the

entire military spending for the year (Friedman, par 6). Given this consideration, increased

military spending is still non-essential especially with America still being at peace with the

only major military involvements being to fight terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, The

Islamic State, and other terrorist organizations. What’s more, all the current operations can be

sustained with a downsized military.

In conclusion, America's defence spending portrays traits of lavish and unnecessary spending

in comparison to the threat faced. Accordingly, downsizing of the US military stands to

benefit other sections of the economy such as education and health, without the security of

the nation being compromised.

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Works Cited

Friedman, B. H. "A Plan to Cut Military Spending." Downsizing the Federal Government,

1 Aug. 2017, www.downsizinggovernment.org/defense/plan-cut-military-

spending#_edn6.

International Institute of Strategic Studies. "The Military Balance 2017." IISS, 2018,

www.iiss.org/publications/the-military-balance/the-military-balance-2017.

Office of Management of Budgets. "Historical Tables, Table 8.2." The White House, 2020,

www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables/.