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Securing America: A Guide to Strategic Defense Budgeting

Discover the importance of defense spending in shaping foreign policy. Explore how cutting unnecessary expenses can lead to a stronger national defense. Gain insights into historical trends and strategic misapprehensions that impact U.S. foreign policy decisions. Uncover the role of libertarians in shaping defense strategies and how the U.S. Constitution guides foreign policy decisions.

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Securing America: A Guide to Strategic Defense Budgeting

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  1. To Provide for the Common Defense: Foreign Policy and the American Constitution Christopher A. Preble

  2. Tim Pawlenty at Cato, May 25th • “I’m not one who is going to stand before you and say we should cut the defense budget.” • “I’m for making sure that America remains the world leader, not becoming second or third or fourth in the list.”

  3. Global Military Expenditures, 2009 Source: IISS, The Military Balance 2011

  4. Global Military Expenditures1983-2006 Source: U.S. State Department “World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers” Database

  5. National Security Spending,per Capita, 1998 and 2009 Sources: IISS, The Military Balance 1999-2000; 2011

  6. U.S. National Defense Spending1945-2011 Source: The Budget for Fiscal Year 2011, Historical Tables, Table 6-1 -- Composition of Outlays: 1940-2015, pp. 130-132.

  7. U.S. National Defense Spending1945-2011 Source: The Budget for Fiscal Year 2011, Historical Tables, Table 6-1 -- Composition of Outlays: 1940-2015, pp. 130-132. Figures in billions of constant FY 2005 dollars.

  8. U.S. Dept. of Defense Spending2001-2011 Data compiled by Winslow Wheeler, Straus Military Reform Project, Center for Defense Information. Figures in billions of constant FY 2011 dollars.

  9. Where Are We Going? • An emerging consensus • We must cut spending, and DoD should not be exempt • A dispute over how to cut • Improving efficiency and eliminating waste doesn’t get you very far • Real cuts are feasible • Politically and strategically, if we refocus our goals

  10. Strategic Misapprehensions • At least four false, expensive, and bipartisan assumptions inhibit spending cuts. • Alliances distribute our defense burden rather than adding to it. • Counterterrorism requires counterinsurgency, and we can master counterinsurgency. • Primacy pays; we should try to run the world. • Security threats are imminent, and require urgent attention and persistent global presence.

  11. Libertarians and U.S. Foreign Policy • “War made the state and the state made war” • Charles Tilly • War is still “a friend of the state” • Milton Friedman • Libertarians should treat war “with great skepticism” • David Boaz

  12. U.S. Foreign Policy and the Constitution • The Founders were right • “Defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.” (Madison) • “This system will not hurry us into war.” (James Wilson) • Sen. Barack Obama was right • “Stopping an actual or imminent threat” • Pres. Obama (and Sen. McCain) are not

  13. Questions? Christopher Preble Director of Foreign Policy Studies Cato Institute 202-218-4630 cpreble@cato.org

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