Exceptional (29 page)

• Direct the Department of Defense to prepare a list of immediate readiness requirements to remedy shortfalls.
The president should work with Congress to seek an emergency supplemental providing the funding necessary to restore these shortfalls. Allowing readiness to continue to decline will, as noted in the National Defense Panel QDR Review for 2014, lead to the possibility of a hollow force “that loses its best people, underfunds procurement, and
shortchanges innovation.”

• Instruct the Department of Defense to adopt an updated force-sizing construct.
In 2012, President Obama abandoned the “two-war” strategy, which provided for a force sized to defeat two enemies in two geographically separate theaters simultaneously. By abandoning this requirement, the president was able to abandon the need for a force sized to accomplish it. In light of the growing complexity of the international situation and the rising threats we face, even a return to a force sized to meet the “two-war” construct is likely insufficient. The United States must have a force today that is structured to defeat adversaries in multiple geographically separate theaters simultaneously, while maintaining the ability to defend the homeland and engage in other critical missions.

• Reverse cuts to the size of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
The current Obama budgets, combined with sequestration, have put us on a path to having a Navy smaller than at any time since 1915, an Army smaller than it has been since 1940, and an Air Force operating the smallest
and oldest force of combat aircraft in its history. Those levels would be inadequate in a time of peace and stability. They are inexcusable in the face of today's threats. The recommendations of the bipartisan 2014 National Defense Panel are a responsible place to start in reversing these cuts. In particular, the panel recommends that Congress should task the Defense Department with conducting a thorough review, “without
undue emphasis on budgetary constraints,” to determine how it would construct a force to meet the current threat environment.

• Ensure the Pentagon budget includes a robust program to invest in the technologies necessary to maintain our military superiority.
Important areas identified for particular focus in the NDP include: armed intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance systems, space capabilities, cyberspace, joint and coalition command and control, air superiority, long-range and precision strike capability, undersea and surface naval warfare, and electric and
directed-energy weapons.

• Upgrade America's offensive and defensive cyber-capabilities.
The successful cyberattack on the U.S. government's personnel and security clearance databases makes clear that we do not have adequate cyberdefenses. Former NSA and CIA director General Michael Hayden has said that the United States must bear much of the blame for this attack because we have
left ourselves vulnerable. He also noted that many of the same members of Congress who voted to limit the authorities of the NSA, “America's most powerful cyberforce,” were demanding, forty-eight hours later, “to know how the personal records of millions of Americans could have been violated by a foreign power.”
Our next president must lead the nation in recognizing that limiting our own intelligence abilities aids our adversaries.

• Develop and build a robust, modern, and effective missile defense system.
Cuts made to missile defense programs must be restored, and we should invest in upgraded programs that enable us to defend against new capabilities, such as China's hypersonic weapons. In a world in which America's adversaries have nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them, we cannot leave ourselves unprotected.

• Harden American targets that are most vulnerable to EMP attack.
One of our greatest vulnerabilities is the threat posed by electromagnetic pulse attacks to our military and civilian infrastructure. Congress established the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. The next president should sign the executive order prepared by the EMP commission and ignored by President Obama, to protect essential infrastructure targets. He or she should also ensure America's missile defense system is structured to provide protection against an EMP attack. Congress should take immediate action to pass legislation proposed by the commission to enable the hardening of targets, including the
nation's electric grid. The next president should use the commission's recommendations as a basis to build on to ensure we are taking all necessary steps to defend against this threat.

• Modernize and upgrade our aging nuclear arsenal.
We must recognize the continued importance of maintaining nuclear superiority with a strategic arsenal that is “second to none.” Our nuclear arsenal should not be viewed as a relic of a long-ago time. It is a crucial element in the security of
the nation, particularly in a world in which the spread of nuclear weapons has become reality. Failing to upgrade, modernize, and maintain our nuclear force, in a world in which our adversaries are improving and modernizing their arsenals, puts our security at risk. The Defense Department should help restore the loss of human capital in all areas related to nuclear capabilities, including investing in programs that will help fund the education of the next generation of nuclear specialists.

• Reverse Obama-era environmental policies that may harm our national security.
Environmental Protection Agency policies, such as those aimed at reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants, can lead to reductions in the reliability of our power grid and interfere with efforts we should be undertaking to decrease Europe's dependence on Russian energy by exporting some of our growing surplus of natural gas to European markets. The current EPA “Clean Power Plan” requires taking one-third of coal-fired power plants off the grid by 2020. This is inconsistent with ensuring the reliability of our grid and will have no demonstrable positive impact on our environment, particularly so long as countries such as China and India continue to produce far greater quantities of pollutants.

In the difficult budget environment in which we find ourselves, it has been tempting for some to think we can cut funds from our nation's defenses as a way to fund domestic programs or to reduce the overall size of the deficit. In reality, cutting defense only harms our capacity to secure the nation and does not solve our fiscal problems. The defense budget is not driving our deficits—entitlement spending
is. We must reform entitlements as part of a larger effort to guarantee the long-term health of the U.S. economy, which will also be beneficial to our national security.

Maintaining America's global supremacy is necessary for our freedom and security. As author Mark Helprin recently noted, “Upon our will to provide for defense,
all else rests.”

AS WE REBUILD AMERICA'S armed forces, we must also take steps to win the war against militant Islam. Our adversaries in this war include ISIS, al Qaeda and its affiliates, and Iran and the terror groups it sponsors.

The urgent task facing us today is the defeat of ISIS and the denial of the territory on which it has established its caliphate. We must:

• Recognize that America's current strategy, to the extent there is one, is failing.
The limited military operations authorized by President Obama are insufficient to defeat ISIS. The $500 million program to train Syrian rebels is a national embarassment, having produced, according to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter,
sixty vetted candidates. America and its allies are not winning.

• Dedicate the American forces necessary to prevail.
Former vice chief of staff of the Army General Jack Keane has detailed these
near-term requirements: We should deploy U.S. and coalition military advisors to accompany indigenous frontline forces fighting ISIS.
Thousands of advisors, not hundreds, are required, and they need the ability to call in air strikes. We also need direct-action special operations forces, both ground and air, targeting ISIS leaders. American and coalition combat brigades should be designated for deployment and moved to Kuwait to be ready if needed.

• Reverse President Obama's policy of retreat and rebuild our alliances with key Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Jordan.
Provide them the support they need to win against ISIS, al Qaeda, and other insurgent groups, especially those backed by Iran. Recognize that alliances must be based on trust and on reliability. Countries in the Middle East must know that America will not abandon them and that our word means something. We must never issue empty threats.

• Rebuild our alliance with Israel.
Recognize that America has no stronger ally or partner, including in the war against militant Islam, than the state of Israel. The deterioration of the relationship over the last six years must be halted and reversed.

• Provide military assistance directly to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
The Peshmerga are a capable fighting force aggressively challenging ISIS. They need and will make effective use of U.S. military support.

• Develop an effective air campaign to deny ISIS sanctuary in Syria, as well as Iraq.
We should increase the pace of our air campaign, establish a no-fly zone to deny Assad's use of airpower and create a buffer zone to protect refugees. We must target and destroy ISIS's lines of communication, staging areas, and bases inside Syria.

• Recognize that the longer we allow ISIS to survive and expand, the more powerful they become.
Every month, they are recruiting thousands of fighters to their cause. They cannot be contained, and since America's security requires their defeat, we must take decisive action to bring that about.

We must take additional steps to defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates, and to prevent further attacks on the United States. Contrary
to President Obama's claims, al Qaeda is not on the road to defeat. His withdrawal from the field of battle has resulted in gains for our enemies. We must:

• Halt the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan and tailor America's ongoing presence there based on conditions on the ground, not American political timetables.
America's complete withdrawal from Iraq and the vacuum it left for ISIS and Iran to fill should be a clear warning about the dangers we face if we follow the same course of action in Afghanistan. Though we have seen progress there, President Obama's decision to deploy
25 percent fewer surge forces than his commanders requested, coupled with his decision to withdraw them early to meet a U.S. political timetable, means that there are still safe havens in Afghanistan that will be exploited by America's enemies if we walk away. We must maintain our presence there and our support for the Afghan National Security Forces until they are truly able to secure their nation and prevent terrorists from establishing safe havens on their sovereign territory.

• Restore authority to the NSA to effectively track and monitor terrorist communications.
We now know that the 9/11 hijackers were in the United States prior to the attacks, communicating with known terrorists overseas. Had the terrorist surveillance program been in place then, according to former NSA director General Mike Hayden, we may well have been able to
prevent those attacks. We are at war with the same enemy, under at least as serious a threat as we were then. Restrictions that were imposed on NSA, including in the USA Freedom Act should be lifted, and
the next president should ensure that NSA has all of the authorities necessary to effectively track America's adversaries.

• Reinstitute the enhanced interrogation program and stop releasing terrorists from Guantánamo.
We should continue the aggressive use of drones to kill terrorists, and we should supplement that program with equally aggressive efforts to capture and interrogate them. We need intelligence to win this war and that requires effective interrogation. There may be instances where intelligence necessary to prevent attacks cannot be obtained using only Army Field Manual techniques. In addition, we need to keep enemy combatants off the field of battle, and that requires detaining them. Detainees who have been released from Guantánamo have returned to the field of battle, including the former detainee who is currently the lead
recruiter for ISIS in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• Recognize the Muslim Brotherhood shares the goals and objectives of militant Islamist terrorist groups.
They provide the ideological foundation for these groups and are allied with them. The United States should not be providing support to the Muslim Brotherhood or any of its affiliated groups or individuals.

• Recognize that Iran is America's enemy and that its objectives are inconsistent with peace, stability, and security in the Middle East.
President Obama has reversed decades of U.S. policy with respect to Iran. By withdrawing from the Middle East, lifting sanctions on an array of Iranian entities, including the IRGC, removing obstacles to Iran's ballistic missile program, and ending the embargo on conventional weapons transfers, he has facilitated their efforts to dominate the Middle East and threaten the United
States and our allies. He has also created the impression he is attempting to align American policy with Iran's interests, by refusing, for example, to enforce his declared redline against Iran's client, Bashar al-Assad and proclaiming that America believes Iran should be “a very
successful regional power.” His reasoning is incomprehensible. America's security demands that we deny, not promote, Iran's dreams of regional domination. America's next president must reverse course in order to prevent Iran from threatening our allies and interests in the region.

IN 1992, AFTER THE Cold War came to an end and the United States emerged as the world's sole superpower, the Department of Defense produced planning guidance laying out actions necessary to ensure the continued security of the nation. The guidance contained this objective: