Why We Ask: Our mission and operations are funded 100% by conservatives like you. Please help us continue to extend Liberty to the next generation and support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today.

November 18, 2016

First Things First on National Security

There are three things Trump can do to get things on a more even keel.

After perhaps the biggest presidential upset in presidential history comes the task of governing — and the most important aspect of governing for any president is the national security of the United States. It’s the primary constitutional duty of the chief executive. Let’s face it: If we can’t defend ourselves, it’s not going to matter how high — or low — the national debt is.

So what are the top national-security priorities for Donald Trump’s incoming administration? The problems faced are huge, but there are three things his administration can do to get things on a more even keel: Defeat the Islamic State quickly, rebuild the military’s force structure, and recapitalize the equipment.

Defeating the Islamic State is probably the best way to send the world a message that there’s a new sheriff in town. This can be accomplished by changing the rules of engagement and getting the War on Terror back on track. The short-term victory, though, must be followed up to ensure that the job is finished and that American troops won’t have to come back. This likely means the same thing it meant after the Korean War: A remnant of American troops left behind to keep any malefactors in the region (Iran, ISIL, al-Qaida) from starting round four. In essence, accomplishing this first task buys time to carry out the next two. America needs to buy time.

The next task, rebuilding the military’s force structure, is a huge one. The Army was cut from 18 active divisions to 10. The Navy has declined to a ship total not seen since 1916 and has mismanaged its carrier force. The Marines needed to get aircraft from the boneyard. The Air Force has its own problems, being short by 700 pilots. The Coast Guard is facing a shortage of hulls in the water. Reversing this is hard enough in peacetime — and harder still with a War on Terror to fight. But this larger force structure is necessary: As good as our ships, troops and aircraft are, they cannot be in two places at once.

The larger military also will allow for more dwell time for those troops not deployed, and also would grant a reserve to handle crises in several hot spots. Even though the U.S. sent seven Army and two Marine divisions to the Middle East during Desert Storm, there were still 11 active Army divisions, 10 National Guard divisions, and one Marine division available to handle crises elsewhere.

Similarly, there is a need to re-capitalize this expanded force as well. Some short-sighted cutbacks to save money, like the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and the premature halt of F-22 production, have forced aging systems like the AAV-7 and the F-15C Eagle to stay on the front lines. With advanced Russian systems being exported, like the S-300 (SA-10 “Grumble”) to “responsible global citizens” such as Iran, the performance margins are way too close for comfort.

One such opportunity is in the B-21 program, formerly the Long-Range Strike Bomber. Current plans call for the purchase of 100 airframes from this program. But think this over: Those 100 planes will be asked to replace 78 B-52H and 62 B-1Bs (a total of 140 planes). Those totals, by the way, do not account for the fact that the U.S. retired roughly 140 B-52G bombers that were almost as capable as the B-52H models.

This is how our troops find themselves stretched thin, even when each bomber can carry numerous precision-guided weapons. It would make more sense for the Air Force to buy enough B-21s to replace each B-52G/H purchased on a 1-for-1 basis (295 airframes), then make plans to replace the more modern B-1B and B-2A bombers with another program, ideally with a production goal of 132 airframes.

This military buildup will be expensive, the costs can be partially offset on several levels. Someone has to build them — that’s a lot of jobs. Manning and maintaining them will employ even more people. Furthermore, the increase of people working will reduce the burden on various anti-poverty programs. While some may claim this is “weaponized Keynesianism,” the purpose of this buildup is to carry out the primary job of the federal government: national defense. Those economic benefits are purely a welcome side-effect.

If President-elect Trump wants to restore America’s national security to pre-Obama levels, these three initial steps are the low-hanging fruit.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.