Defense Cuts Hit Home: Strategic, Economic, and Personal Consequences

With Dan Goure, Fred Grandy, Douglas Murray, Bill Gertz.

In the current meme, the devastating effects of defense cuts on both the economy and the ability of the U.S. military to create stability abroad are attributed to looming sequestration.  In the political battle space, the administration generally succeeds in directing attention toward Congress.  However, the under-reported impact on global stability, the U.S. economy, and in the lives of our service men and women and their industrial support base began in the beginning of the Obama administration when then Secretary Bill Gates was ordered to find $100 billion in savings from DoD.  Those first self-inflicted cuts combined with the uncertainty of a President whose rhetoric assumes that U.S. power is a cause of instability have been hurting American families for some time.  The effects on budgets and planning by the looming sequestration for the military is more like a knock-out punch than an opening salvo.

On today’s Secure Freedom Radio, Vice President of the Lexington Institute DAN GOURE gives an in-depth explanation of how sequestration cuts will hurt the United States’ military and create a cycle in which our inability to replenish our forces will embolden our enemies, whom we will then be unprepared to confront.

DOUGLAS MURRAY, Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Center, talks with Frank about the assassination attempt against Lars Hedegaard, which he considers an “appalling attempt” to stop our freedom of expression. Yet, as Murray points out, the usual defenders of free speech are not speaking out about the incident–rather, some feel that perhaps Hedegaard simply shouldn’t have said anything in the first place.

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Former Congressman FRED GRANDY offers up his opinions on the spurious excuses made in yesterday’s hearing on the Benghazi attack. Why, for instance, couldn’t F-16s been used to disperse the crowd simply by flying overhead?

Washington Times national security editor BILL GERTZ explains his theory that CIA personnel were in Benghazi to begin with because of a proposed plan to arm Syrian rebels, which President Obama ended up rejecting. Gertz also expresses his frustration that so much of the John Brennan hearing was focused on drones, when the bigger issue is Brennan’s refusal to identify Islamist extremists as the enemy.