BLUF: Maintaining Military Superiority

Iran’s attack on Israel this week adds fuel to a very hot fire burning in the Middle East. The attack comes amidst ongoing efforts by world leaders to end an already devastating conflict between Israel and Iran’s proxies, and follows Israel’s elimination of top Hezbollah terrorist leaders. As Vali Nasr writes in Foreign Policy, “exacting retribution is a perilous gamble, as it will likely be followed by a forceful Israeli reprisal and a costly spiral into a full conflict with Israel and the United States.”

U.S involvement in a regional conflict in the Middle East is a sobering possibility. When you add the threat of an increasingly assertive China (see the Keeping Our Eye on China section, below), and a Russia which has both increased the size of its standing Army and proposed a record-setting defense budget, the larger international order seems to be on the brink.

These regional conflicts and their potential to spillover into a broad, multi-theater conflict should be of paramount concern to all Americans and is a reminder that maintaining our military superiority is of vital national security interest. To that end, we were pleased to see the U.S. Army’s announcement that the service had met its recruiting goals for the first time in over two years.

It is no secret that the U.S. military has struggled to recruit the soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women we need to face the multitude of threats that are looming just ahead. Today’s soldiers could be called up to enter one of the most dynamic and complicated battlefields the world has ever seen. Recruiting the best and brightest isn’t just a “nice-to-have,” it is do-or-die.

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