Tuesday
Mar102009
Economy and Environment are National Security Threats
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 1:49PM
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on threats to the United States. In his written statement, he said that, “the primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications.” Blair said that time was of the essence, because “statistical modeling shows that economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one to two year period.” The threat to nations both politically and economically could affect regional stability, and could prevent America’s allies from fully meeting their defense and humanitarian responsibilities.
Blair highlighted a number of nations which have specific security concerns to the United States, including Iran and Afghanistan, but Blair brought up broader security concerns. Among these broader concerns were resource scarcity, overpopulation, and climate change. Blair said that by 2025 more than one billion people will be added to the world population, which will exacerbate the food and water shortages in some areas. Blair continued that this larger world population will use more energy, which would fuel climate change. This could lead to a quicker rise in sea-levels, as well as widespread health problems and agricultural losses. He said, “such a complex and unprecedented syndrome of problems could cause outright state failure, or weaken the important pivotal states counted on to act as anchors of regional stability.”
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on threats to the United States. In his written statement, he said that, “the primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications.” Blair said that time was of the essence, because “statistical modeling shows that economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one to two year period.” The threat to nations both politically and economically could affect regional stability, and could prevent America’s allies from fully meeting their defense and humanitarian responsibilities.
Blair highlighted a number of nations which have specific security concerns to the United States, including Iran and Afghanistan, but Blair brought up broader security concerns. Among these broader concerns were resource scarcity, overpopulation, and climate change. Blair said that by 2025 more than one billion people will be added to the world population, which will exacerbate the food and water shortages in some areas. Blair continued that this larger world population will use more energy, which would fuel climate change. This could lead to a quicker rise in sea-levels, as well as widespread health problems and agricultural losses. He said, “such a complex and unprecedented syndrome of problems could cause outright state failure, or weaken the important pivotal states counted on to act as anchors of regional stability.”
What is the future of combat systems?
Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) said that “for over nearly eight years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan we’ve watched with pride and gratitude the magnificent performance of America’s land forces,” and that we have not done enough to support our ground forces transformation or to prepare them to meet future threats.
At the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the current and future goals of the U.S. military land power, Lieberman said that it is the intent of these hearings to identify requirements for land and air power as part of the committee’s primary responsibility to authorize funding for the programs for air and land power that they conclude are necessary to provide for the common defense.
Lieberman said that the question we need to ask is, “What is the future of the future combat systems program?” He said that the defense budget faces pressure because of the need to reset the equipment that has been used in our ongoing wars while also shifting new resources to support the fight in Afghanistan.
Andrew Krepinevich, President for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said that “what we need is a rebalanced army, but the kind of army that we are looking at right now is in my estimation far too rebalanced and oriented on traditional conventional military operations.”
Thomas Donnelly, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, said that administrations of both parties have wanted to preserve American leadership in a global sense. Donnelly said that “the outcome of this war is critical to us” and “the primary instrument that we have to achieve that success is our land forces.”
Donnelly says that we need to have an active duty army that is somewhere about the size that it was at the end of the Cold War, which was approximately 780,000.