US Military at Risk of Not Being Able to Meet Demands of America’s National Interests: Report

Members of the 182d Infantry Regiment load their weapons with live ammunition before heading into the field to train, firing on targets out in the field and working in concert with other squads, for deployment to the Middle East during live fire weapons training at US Fort Dix in New Jersey on May 16, 2022. (Joseph Prezioso /AFP via Getty Images)

The United States military is declining despite it facing more dangers than ever before, according to a recent report from the Heritage Foundation.

“As currently postured, the U.S. military is at growing risk of not being able to meet the demands of defending America’s vital national interests. It is rated as weak relative to the force needed to defend national interests on a global stage against actual challenges in the world as it is rather than as we wish it were,” said The Heritage Foundation in its executive summary of 2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength published on Oct. 18.

The Heritage Foundation describes its annually published Index of U.S. Military Strength as the “only non-governmental and only annual assessment of U.S. Military Strength.” It’s done by a group of experts with decades of experience in the U.S. military.

“The Index of U.S. Military Strength assesses the ease or difficulty of operating in key regions based on existing alliances, regional political stability, the presence of U.S. military forces, and the condition of key infrastructure,” it said in the summary.

Dakota L. Wood, senior research fellow for Defense Programs at the Heritage Foundation said in his commentary titled, “Yes, the US military is weak” that the American military faces unprecedented challenges.

“During the Cold War, the U.S. military competed against a single massive opponent (the Soviet Union) on a global scale, while still managing to handle crises in various parts of the world,” said Wood. “Today, the U.S. faces four opponents—China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—yet has little more than half the force it did just three decades ago.”

The U.S. military has conducted many operations since 9/11 that have gobbled platforms, ammunition, and equipment procured to fight the Soviet Union, leaving the military left with aged platforms and diminished inventories.

“America’s support to Ukraine has exacerbated the problem, as the Pentagon digs deep into existing inventories of weapons and munitions to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia. Inventories are nearing war-reserve levels, and it will take years to replenish them,” said Wood.

Rick Fisher, a senior fellow, at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, told The Epoch Times’s sister media NTD News that “unfortunately” for the United States, numbers matter.

“There are areas where the United States still has a numerical superiority over China, for example, in the very important count of vertical missile launchers on major combat ships, the United States has a margin of about 1,000 of these more than China has at this point,” said Fisher, adding that China will be able to catch up soon because it’s making chips far more rapidly than the United States.

A U.S .soldier walks in front of military tanks at the United States Army military training base in Grafenwoehr, southern Germany, on July 13, 2022. (Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images)

Citizens Need to Know

The Heritage report said that U.S. citizens need to know about the condition of the military vis-a-vis threats to national security interests.

“Because changes can have substantial implications for defense policies and investment, knowing how these three areas change over time is likewise important,” said its executive summary.

“Of the three, the condition of the military is the most important to understand because it is the only one over which the U.S. has complete control, and it underwrites the ability of all other aspects of national power to flourish or fail.”

Wood alleged that the Pentagon is in denial of the situation and its own gullibility.

“Honestly assessing U.S. military power is not ‘dangerous.’ What is dangerous is to be weak and to not let the American people know it. Even more dangerous: a Pentagon in denial of the threats it faces and its own vulnerabilities,” he said.

Fisher said the situation boils down to the leadership and the Biden administration should inform the U.S. citizens that the nation is moving into a war condition.

People need to know “that our enemies could initiate combat operations against our forces or those of our allies and friends very quickly. And by surprise, unless we have the means to deter them that we have the strength that convinces them not to start that war tomorrow,” said Fisher, adding that the situation requires a leadership that prioritizes the buildup of military strength.

If Congress decides to pay for student loans of the last two generations of U.S. citizens, it'll cost $500 billion and with money that could be used to deter China by building enough missiles, submarines, and aircraft, Fisher said.

“A war that might cause us to have to draft the very students who are having their loans forgiven. But would they rather not pay for their loans, or be drafted and possibly go off to war? I would think they would want to avoid the ladder more than the former,” he said in response to why the United States isn’t catching up with the military numbers it needs.

He however affirmed that in the current situation the United States will be able to militarily defend Taiwan if a war breaks out and reiterated the assurance of the commander of the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific who expressed high confidence about the United States defending Taiwan from China, in a recent interview to the Washington Times.

“The question though, is for how long? How long before American military stocks [of] ammunition missiles begin to run out? And also how long before Taiwan’s military stocks of ammunition artillery shells, air to air missiles begins to expire?” he said.

The situation demands an assurance of adequately increased military production of key weapons and weapon systems. This would give a message to the Chinese that the U.S. military is strong enough and can wage a long-enough war for China to not win, according to Fisher.