Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute writes about the American military’s funding needs.
Washington knows the US military is teetering on the brink of insolvency, but policymakers seem incapable of solving big, hard, multifaceted, generational problems before the next crisis. Indeed, exactly what crisis would make these systemic problems worth addressingis no longer clear. In the not-too-distant past, actively supporting European and Middle Eastern allies in two bloody, grinding, existential wars would likely have galvanized policymakers to pursue radical change.
Throw in a half year of nonstop operations in the Bab el Mandeb strait fighting Iranian proxies and depleting decades’ worth of missile inventory in mere weeks, and the moment seems ripe for bold action.
The incoming second Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will target waste, fraud, and inefficiency across federal agencies, and the bureaucracy-laden Pentagon is no exception. This effort is well positioned to boldly revitalize entrenched Pentagon processes and purge inefficiencies from America’s military.
Early priorities will likely include timely initiatives such as accelerating shipbuilding to rebuild the Navy, increasing munitions production to meet the demands of modern warfare, and retiring outdated legacy systems that no longer contribute to warfighting effectiveness. Long-term initiatives will likely focus on revitalizing military readiness while addressing systemic inefficiencies in the defense bureaucracy—including rigorously scrubbing the Pentagon’s sprawling fourth estate, redirecting resources from redundant agencies and overhead to critical priorities like modernization and readiness, and simultaneously reducing operation demands on the force and working to realign defense strategy.
The most direct step that the incoming administration can take now to start closing the gap of declining deterrence across three theaters is providing the military with real and consistent budgetary increases.
Such funding is not just about preserving the force’s size and strength; it is the foundation for enabling cost-saving reforms, boosting modernization efforts, and maintaining deterrence abroad. These investments must be paired with a clear and balanced strategy that prioritizes the critical areas of strategy, reform, and resources—three interdependent pillars necessary to rebuild the US military’s competitive edge.
