Atlantic Council Senior Adviser Harlan Ullman writes for Defense News on the continued strength of the US military, despite cuts to active duty Army and Navy forces:
Now that the US Army has officially announced cuts to reduce its active duty force to 450,000, the howls and screams of protest coming from many directions, and especially from Capitol Hill, are deafening. Many will complain that this will be the smallest Army since the start of World War II. Similarly, the Navy will sink to some 280 ships and pre-World War II size. And the Air Force too has made sharp cuts in its aircraft fleet.
But are these fears and dire predictions of America’s fate due to smaller land, sea and air forces justified? Or are there other views and reasons from which to draw different conclusions?