Hal Brands
Vice President Kamala Harris, in last week’s debate with former President Donald Trump, repeated her call for the US to maintain the world’s most “lethal” military. It’s a good thought, given today’s menagerie of geopolitical malcontents.
Russia is slugging away at Ukraine as part of a long, bitter struggle against the West. China’s military buildup, and hoarding of food and energy, suggests that President Xi Jinping is putting his country on a war footing, too. North Korea’s nuclear and missile arsenals are improving. Iran and its proxies are roiling the Middle East and the neighboring sea lanes. But far from arming up for what looks more and more like a prewar era, America is slouching toward disarmament, as it struggles to maintain the (insufficient) military strengths it has.
The Pentagon is undertaking a multidecade project to modernize the US nuclear arsenal — put plainly, to ensure that the US has nuclear weapons and delivery systems that really work. But all three aspects of that modernization — the bomber force, land-based missiles and ballistic-missile submarines — are behind schedule and over budget. The US is struggling to update missile silos and other vital infrastructure.
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