President Trump wants the biggest, best military ever. He also wants efficiencies and Secretary Hegseth is looking for about $80 Billion in the FY 25 budget of what is looking to be about $1 Trillion
Having the biggest and best military ever to ensure we don’t get into a War and at the same time cutting funding is not incompatible. It is actually very wise and do-able.
The reality is, we’re spending more on defense than we ever have (as a percentage of GDP Defense spending is slipping down from 3.5% of GDP). The reality is that we are getting less available aircraft, ships, missiles, and service members for that increase in spending.
That is wrong.
To rectify this mess, it first starts with re-setting or “plucking” military leadership. That means firing Uniformed Generals and Admirals and also career civilian senior executives.
As far as military leadership, Chairman of the Joint Staff, CQ Brown certainly has to go. It’s very likely he is on the list to be fired. Admiral Franchetti, the Chief of Naval Operations is also likely to be sacked.
P.S. one of the first things one does when they are promoted to General or Flag Officer is that they sign a letter of resignation, it’s kept on file and then dated when they are asked for their resignation.
The next thing is cutting costs. Research and Development is very important and we have lost the art of R&D. Around $146 Billion a year goes to R&D of which about $6-10 Billion goes to what are known as Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) as part of Research and Development. The big three are the Mitre Corporation, Rand, and The Aerospace Corporation. I worked at one of those for six years after leaving Government.
I support the idea of FFRDCs, but they have become Deep State parking lots for Democrats out of power. I had multiple blow outs with the C Suite of my FFRDC over their shameless partisanship and DEI advocacy lunacy.
$146 Billion is about 14% of the DOD budget. As a start on efficiencies, let’s cut the big three FFRDCs down to one new one at about $3 Billion per year. This will save funding that can be re-allocated to a national Iron Dome system and also eliminate the entrenched DEI cultures in the existing FFRDCs.
Is it harsh? Are we being short sighted? We are at a crisis point in National Security, we’re spending more and getting less.
Ending the funding of a mini-Deep State within the Department of Defense is a smart place to start. Fiscal Year 2025 Authorization language was actually creating another FFRDC in DOD and one more at State Department. My friend Kevin Freeman has shown that every Government Employee who has a regulatory or semi-regulatory role, deters/prevents/inhibits the employment of around 150 in the private sector. FFRDC personnel are semi-government employees and often have a quasi-regulatory role through their roles in establishment of standards .
A strong American Defense Sector derives its strength from a world class private sector. Let’s unleash the Private Sector as a foundation for our incredible military, and many of the former FFRDC employees can bring their expertise to bear in the private sector. They can be unburdened by what has been in their former role as Deep State enablers in national security.
