The Defense Debate: Raise the Anchor or Lower the Ship?
POLICY FORUMTuesday, October 17, 2000
12:00 p.m.
Featuring James Schlesinger, Former Secretary of Defense and Energy and Director of Central Intelligence with comments by Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato Institute; and Kim Holmes, Heritage Foundation.
The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
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The debate on the future of the U.S. military in the 2000 presidential campaign has been cursory and narrowly focused on military readiness. But the key question of "readiness for what?" has been ignored. What should the military be asked to do in the post-Cold War world? What are U.S. vital interests and the threats to those interests? What should U.S. military strategy be, what specific forces are needed to carry out that strategy, and how big a defense budget is needed to pay for those forces? Should the military budget be increased, decreased, or remain the same? If the budget needs to be adjusted, what should be added, cut, or changed? Secretary Schlesinger will address those subjects, and the commentators will offer a spectrum of responses.