National Defense Report Shows Worsening Situation Under Biden/Harris

[Vambram]

National Defense Report Shows Worsening Situation Under Biden/Harris

Cumulatively, the NDS report paints a picture that should alarm Americans.

cfif.org

With American voters consistently rating economic conditions as their top concern as November’s election date approaches, it’s understandable that Americans maintain a default focus on domestic issues.

As the new report highlights, however, a potential disaster on the same scale as World War II looms while America remains complacent in the same way that it was in 1941:
The strategic environment in summer 2024 presents more, and vastly more serious, challenges to U.S. security interests than since the end of the Cold War, if not the height of World War II. Many of the threats are intertwined and compounding, making them more difficult to overcome. The NDS prioritizes challenges and threats posed by China, then Russia, and then from North Korea, Iran, and violent extremist organizations. It also highlights the threat to the U.S. homeland and lists transboundary challenges.

The Commission agrees with the prioritization of the threats in the NDS, but we believe that the magnitude of the threats the United States faces is understated and significantly worse than when the NDS was issued, especially when viewed globally and as compounding. Since the release of the NDS, we have witnessed but not fully accounted for the strategic impact of the “no limits” partnership between Russia and China and their partnership with Iran and North Korea, the outbreak of war in the Middle East, and the scope and duration of the war in Europe.

That’s a grim assessment, and responsibility for the progressively declining situation lies with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Beginning with Russia, Biden and Harris have empowered it since the administration's early missteps. First and foremost, their catastrophic and humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan, including bungled attempts to target terrorists that ended up killing innocent civilians instead, signaled to Vladimir Putin that he could expect a weak, Jimmy Carter-like foreign policy. Biden and Harris also reversed former President Donald Trump’s sanctions against Russia’s NordStream petroleum pipeline to Europe. Their administration also dragged its feet in supplying Ukraine with weaponry after Russia’s invasion in 2022, and then placed handcuffs on Ukraine’s ability to use what American weaponry it did supply in a way that could hit Russia where it hurts along its deeper logistical supply lines.

And how does Kamala Harris share responsibility for that? She explicitly confirmed that she was the last person in the room with Biden as he made those decisions relating to Afghanistan, and that she supported them.

 

[bèlla]

What has Trump promised to voters economically? Forget about the rest. Let's talk dollars and cents. What are you getting with him? From what I've seen thus far tax cuts for capital gains, corporate tax, and promises to the crypto community don't apply to most citizens.

As Tom said, show me the money.

~bella

 

[Vambram]

What has Trump promised to voters economically? Forget about the rest. Let's talk dollars and cents. What are you getting with him? From what I've seen thus far tax cuts for capital gains, corporate tax, and promises to the crypto community don't apply to most citizens.

As Tom said, show me the money.

~bella

What do those questions have to do with the OP article about the worsening national defense report?

 

[bèlla]

What do those questions have to do with the OP article about the worsening national defense report?

The questions are on topic. I wouldn't do that to you V. and you know that. I'm not countering your OP.

You opened with economic conditions. It makes sense for someone weighing the pair to wonder where Trump stands on that issue.

~bella

 

[Vambram]

The questions are on topic. I wouldn't do that to you V. and you know that. I'm not countering your OP.

You opened with economic conditions. It makes sense for someone weighing the pair to wonder where Trump stands on that issue.

~bella

Fair enough. However, 95% or more of the focus of the article which I posted is upon the worsening National Defense report and the decline of our overall national security as seen during these last 3 years.

 

[bèlla]

Fair enough. However, 95% or more of the focus of the article which I posted is upon the worsening National Defense report and the decline of our overall national security as seen during these last 3 years.

If you're struggling to make ends meet what's your priority? Most people are more concerned about their livelihood and that comes first.

~bella

 

[Vambram]

If you're struggling to make ends meet what's your priority? Most people are more concerned about their livelihood and that comes first.

~bella

Should we also be very, very concerned about the foreign policy topics which have considerably worsened over the last few years?

 

[bèlla]

Should we also be very, very concerned about the foreign policy topics which have considerably worsened over the last few years?

Do I need to explain what a person prioritizes and how that differs for each? I don't like either and think they're liars and puppets. But Trump's tax breaks suit me well. That doesn't minimize my mistrust or recognition of his duplicity. It's a money play. Nothing more or less. But I recognize the majority require other things. Hence my comments.

~bella

 

[Vambram]

Do I need to explain what a person prioritizes and how that differs for each? I don't like either and think they're liars and puppets. But Trump's tax breaks suit me well. That doesn't minimize my mistrust or recognition of his duplicity. It's a money play. Nothing more or less. But I recognize the majority require other things. Hence my comments.

~bella

We are going off topic. However, I know that the tax cuts in 2017/2018 benefited this here average working man a LOT in my civilian jobs.

 

[Hans Blaster]

So, I read the actual summary of the report rather than the article written by the "center for individual freedom" (an odd name for a center reporting on collective defense posture and preparedness.) Not only does it not mention the President or Vice President by name, it doesn't even mention their offices. There is a lot of discussion of defense postures and doctrines, of procurement and defense production capacity, of the investments of adversary nations and their perceived position that Congress should spend more on defense, but nothing about the actions of any particular politician.

 

[Vambram]

So, I read the actual summary of the report rather than the article written by the "center for individual freedom" (an odd name for a center reporting on collective defense posture and preparedness.) Not only does it not mention the President or Vice President by name, it doesn't even mention their offices. There is a lot of discussion of defense postures and doctrines, of procurement and defense production capacity, of the investments of adversary nations and their perceived position that Congress should spend more on defense, but nothing about the actions of any particular politician.

That is a fair analysis. But the National Defense Report also does show the decline and worsening Defense and National security situation over the last few years.

 

[Hans Blaster]

That is a fair analysis. But the National Defense Report also does show the decline and worsening Defense and National security situation over the last few years.

I did see some reference (was it in the summary, or did I hit it during a quick scan of the rest, I don't know) to a 2018 plan put forward by the same commission to have a few % real growth in defense expenditure. This is not a short term issue, nor has the commission gotten less hawkish over the years.

 

[Laodicean60]

Whenever I see Biden/ Harris administration it leads me to believe it will have right wing commentary. The NDS drew my attention so I looked it up and this is a 7/ 2024 report.

https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/nds_commission_final_report.pdf

(Some points that stood out because maybe I was lying to myself about our capabilities being an Army guy and all.)

"The Commission finds that the U.S. military lacks both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat. It needs to do a better job of incorporating new technology at scale; field more and higher-capability platforms, software, and munitions; and deploy innovative operational concepts to employ them together better. The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the need to prepare for new forms of conflict and to integrate technology and new capabilities rapidly with older systems. Such technologies include swarms of attritable systems, artificial intelligence–enabled capabilities, hypersonics and electronic warfare, fully integrated cyber and space capabilities, and vigorous competition in the information domain"

"The consequences of an all-out war with a peer or near peer would be devastating. Such a war would not only yield massive personnel and military costs but would also likely feature cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure and a global economic recession from disruptions to supply chains, manufacturing, and trade.9 Adversaries could seek to deny the United States access to critical minerals and goods needed to run the U.S. economy and build weapon systems. They could also hold at risk U.S. space assets, which underpin much of our daily lives and are essential for military capabilities. Even short of all-out war, the global economic damage from a Chinese blockade of Taiwan has been estimated to cost $5 trillion, or 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).10 War with a major power would affect the life of every American in ways we can only begin to imagine. Deterring war by projecting strength and ensuring economic and domestic resilience is far preferable to and less costly than war."

(The terrorist thing scares me because we have caught a few but it is unknown how many didn't get caught.)

We recommend that the Joint Force be sized and structured to simultaneously
1. defend the homeland, maintain strategic deterrence, prevent mass casualty terrorist attacks, maintain global posture, and respond to small-scale, short-duration crises
2. lead the effort, with meaningful allied contribution, to deter China from territorial aggression in the Western Pacific—and fight and win if needed
3. lead NATO planning and force structure to deter and, if necessary, defeat Russian aggression
4. sustain capabilities, along with U.S. partners in the Middle East, to defend against Iranian malign activities. (I guess this means Israel)

"Recent recruitment shortfalls have decreased the size of the Army, Air Force, and Navy.13" (Put the human trafficked and give them citizenship)

"Although Russia suffered an estimated 450,000 to 500,000 casualties and lost thousands of tanks and armored vehicles by April 2024, 12 it maintains and has shown the ability to regenerate substantial conventional power, and it maintains the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, additional strategic assets, and world-class space and cyber capabilities."

"Among the largest shifts in the threats to the United States is the risk of attack against the U.S. homeland. The NDS rightfully lists defending the U.S. homeland as its top defense priority and notes that U.S. competitors include threatening the U.S. homeland in their doctrine.28 In the same way that the threat of terrorism was not widely understood or appreciated before 9/11, we believe that this new threat to the homeland and its implications are not well understood by the American public, integrated into planning, or resourced adequately."

(You guys get the gist and I hope we focus on protecting Americans and that is what matters not all the other BS we here in the news. I got tired of scanning 43 pages of this 132-page report.) I blame ADD