Defense & Aerospace (March 2011)

A wise military axiom cautions that “amateurs study strategy, professionals study logistics.”

Sustaining the federal government through short-term continuing resolutions does not make for sound fiscal policy. Congressional overreliance on temporary funding arrangements has been particularly disruptive for the Department of Defense, and further reliance on them may have significantly adverse and cascading effects on military effectiveness. Moreover, savings that can be realized from a leaner defense budget may be offset, or even eclipsed, by losses to inefficiencies and incidental costs resulting from these stopgap measures.

On the same day we marked the eighth year of our involvement in Iraq, the United States began military airstrikes on Libya. While I agree with President Obama that our intervention helped to avert a humanitarian crisis, I remain gravely concerned about the unforeseen consequences of the fog of war. The use of military action should never be our first option, but always the absolute last resort.