Letter to the Editor: Cutting the Military Budget (NYT)

Dec 26, 2010

This letter to the editor was written by Kathy Stackhouse in The New York Times of December 26, 2010.

To the Editor:

Thanks to Nicholas D. Kristof for raising the issue of military spending. I sense that the subject is taboo no longer.

The Sustainable Defense Task Force, established by Representatives Barney Frank and Ron Paul and others, identified ways to cut almost $1 trillion out of the Defense Department budget with no detriment to national security. If the 112th Congress’s newly elected deficit hawks are serious, the task force’s recommendations are a fine place to start.

Moreover, it’s high time to stop thinking about national security in terms of bombs, tanks and missiles. Critical to national security are a healthy, well-educated population, modern infrastructure and reduced dependence on imported energy sources. For example, Mission: Readiness, a bipartisan organization led by retired senior military leaders, has raised alarms over the fact that 75 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds don’t meet basic minimum requirements for military service. They are overweight and undereducated.

Kathy Stackhouse