The Biden administration is really interested in using the military to push global warming, alternative energy, equity, racism and transgender culture wars.
Nuclear weapons? Not so much.
The Navy and Stratcom warned that we needed the SLCM-N submarine nuclear cruise missile system. The Biden administration wanted it gone.
The head of U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the nation’s nuclear arsenal, told Congress he supports the sea-launched cruise missile program despite the Biden administration’s proposal to cancel it.
“I support reestablishing SLCM-N as necessary to enhance deterrence and assurance,” Richard said in the letter. “The current situation in Ukraine and China’s nuclear trajectory have further convinced me a deterrence and assurance gap exists.”
Richard said he believes “a low-yield, non-ballistic capability that can be made available without visible generation” is needed to address that gap. He backed the SLCM-N while testifying before the Senate in May.
“We are facing a crisis deterrence dynamic right now that we have only seen a few times in our nation’s history,” he said at the time.
But, as I discuss in today’s article, the Biden admin is interested in a very different kind of crisis.
Wokeness is at the heart of the NSS with the assertion that “we are building on the work of generations of activists to advance equity and root out systemic disparities in our laws, policies, and institutions. Indeed, pluralism, inclusion, and diversity are a source of national strength in a rapidly changing world.” This same rhetoric about DEI has been rolled into military doctrine so that unprecedented military weakness appears like a strength because it’s a diverse weakness.
Racial and identity politics quotas are also national security. Or as the NSS asserts, “Prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility to ensure national security institutions reflect the American public they represent.”
Tellingly, “modernizing and strengthening our military” comes at the very end of the second subsection behind agenda items like Biden’s corrupt special interest giveaways, and, most damningly, “strengthening our democracy”.
So SCLM-N bites the dust. Dems weren’t going to fund it anyway. No nuclear weapons unless they’re solar and wind-powered.
Biden’s Secretary of Defense is trying to thump his chest.
When questioned by Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin on why the U.S. would choose to eliminate nuclear capabilities during a period of heightened tensions with Moscow, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin argued “our inventory of nuclear weapons is significant.”
“I do not believe this sends a message to Putin,” Austin said. “He understands what our capability is.”
Yes, he does. And that’s the problem. He understands our physical capabilities and our moral capabilities. The Russians have always had a good assessment of both. That’s why we never directly went to war, instead they exploited our moral and morale weaknesses.
And nothing has changed.
Pfft. The right wins next time call me, you know the Rabbi that won’t vouch for me. None of these cuties impress me.
I doubt Putin knows what his own military’s capabilities are, let alone ours. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing.
What’s worth noting is that this is pretty close to the start of the trajectory the Russian military and government took in the 1990s. With a government ridden by corruption and internal divisions and a collapsing budget but the need to keep up at least the appearance of being a global power, they slashed budgets to the bone for things other than the strategic services (such as Strategic Rocket Forces and the Navy) and played politics with who headed it up.
If we let this fester the Left will hollow out the US just the same.
Your military capabilities are probably better known to Moscow and Beijing than they are to the Pentagon.
“Your military capabilities are probably better known to Moscow and Beijing than they are to the Pentagon.”
Nonwithstanding how my military capabilities are modest at best, I wouldn’t be surprised. Especially given how corrupt and incompetent the Swamp has proven to be. That said, I wouldn’t be TOO sure. They are obsessed with violating the rights of law abiding citizens in the US, after all.