Panic in Washington D.C.: The American military is no longer “prepared” to fight in a Major War

President Biden takes ‘selfie’ with US Army soldiers.
Photo: Chicago Town News

The United States risks losing in the event of multiple conflicts with adversaries due to a lack of capabilities and capacity, the congressionally established Commission on the National Defense Strategy said in a report released Monday, Sputnik informs.

The commission, which received administrative and analytic support from the RAND Corporation think tank, was tasked with examining and making recommendations based on the US National Defense Strategy.

“The United States confronts the most serious and the most challenging threats since the end of World War II,” the think tank said in a statement on the commission’s report.

"The United States could in short order be drawn into a war across multiple theaters with peer and near-peer adversaries, and it could lose."

The US military lacks both the capabilities and capacity required to be confident in its ability to deter and prevail in combat, the report said.

China and Russia are fusing military, diplomatic and industrial strength to expand global power, the report said, touching on past assertions that both nations are doing so as to further and 'coerce' neighbors in the region. The findings pointed out the US needs to undertake a similar integrated approach to meet China and Russia.

The report further outlined that Russia intends to outlast the willingness of Western countries to support Ukraine and seek a favorable outcome to the conflict, noting that if Russia were to gain control over Ukraine, its borders with NATO would expand from the Arctic to the Black Sea. As such, it would only present significantly more demands for deployed NATO forces.

However, China remains the “preeminent challenge” to US interests and its most formidable military threat, the report claimed.

“The Commission finds that, in many ways, China is outpacing the United States and has largely negated the U.S. military advantage in the Western Pacific through two decades of focused military investment,” the report reads.

The new axis “creates a real risk, if not likelihood, that conflict anywhere could become a multitheater or global war,” according to the report.

The Pentagon is burdened with bureaucratic and slow-moving processes, relies on “decades-old military hardware” and has given way to a “culture of risk avoidance” that has contributed to a stagnate state, the report claims.

The military, itself, is also lagging behind in terms of “both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat,” according to the report. Newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, cyber warfare and hypersonic weapon capabilities are some of the examples listed as necessary to help modernize the military.

The commission recommends more effectively and efficiently building its future force instead of perpetuating its existing one. The US Congress should pass a supplemental appropriation bill to begin a multiyear investment in the industrial base and national security innovation, the report said.

Included among the recommended options to improve US military readiness are an increase in space satellites, underwater vessels and a significant "boost" in "its forward presence in Eastern Europe."

“The goal is for Europe to take on a larger role in providing for its defense, with assured and critical support of the United States," the report states.

"In light of the potential for simultaneous conflicts, capability targets apportioned to European allies through the NATO Defense Planning Process should be intentionally selected to reduce overreliance on the United States for key capabilities enablers.”

Also highlighted in the report was' concern that the US deficit poses national security risks, a figure that hit $35 trillion on Monday. Known for its military-centered budget, the report emphasized that the United States should increase security spending, accompanied by additional taxes and reforms to entitlement spending.

“The United States last fought a global conflict during World War II, which ended nearly 80 years ago. The nation was last prepared for such a fight during the Cold War, which ended 35 years ago. It is not prepared today,” the commission’s report reads. “The United States is still failing to act with the urgency required, across administrations and without regard to governing party. This report proposes a new approach to spur the speed and scale of change.”

The congressionally established and bipartisan commission, made up of high-level defense and national security experts, is tasked with assessing the U.S. defense strategies and providing recommendations to Congress and the Pentagon. The most current report from the commission was created in part by the RAND Corporation, which provided “analytic, administrative, editorial, and publication support.”

More broadly, the U.S. defense base is “unable” to meet the needs of American allies in terms of military and technology equipment, according to the report. In the event of a multi-theater war, the U.S. will need to work with allies to amplify its military-industrial complex production capabilities, given that it alone is “unable to produce everything needed.”

The Pentagon should also conduct a sweeping review of its major systems to ensure they are up-to-date and battle-ready, and discard any programs that are headed toward obsoletion, according to the commission.

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