Insufficient industry, readiness, innovation, and funding would hamper the military’s ability to prevail in a conflict, a congressional commission has found
The US is unprepared for a potential war with major adversaries as its military “lacks both the capabilities and the capacity” required for combat, according to a congressional report.
A panel tasked by Congress to review US defense strategy has revealed significant flaws in the US Defense Department’s ambitions of deterring a major conflict or prevailing in one. The report named Russia and China as the biggest threats to US national security.
According to the 114-page document published on Monday, America’s National Defense Strategy (NDS), written before the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, is outdated. The US military is not correctly structured and the nation’s industrial base is “grossly inadequate” to confront potential threats.
US experts argued that the nation was last prepared for a major conflict during the Cold War, which ended 35 years ago.
“Our commission believes unanimously that the threats to US national security and our interests are greater than at any time since World War II and are more complex than during the Cold War,” Jane Harman, a former Democratic congresswoman and chair of the commission on the NDS, told a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing on Tuesday.
The “threats” to the US, including “the potential for near-term major war,” are compounded by the increasing political and military alignment between China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, according to the report.
In a declaration adopted last month at a NATO summit in Washington, the US-led bloc labeled China “a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine” – accusation Beijing described as “full of lies and bias.” Both Moscow and Beijing have rejected Western allegations that China has been supplying Russia with dual-use goods that can be utilized to produce weapons.
“The United States should assume that if it enters a direct conflict involving Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea, that country will benefit from economic and military aid from the others,” the document stated. “We also believe that this partnership increases the likelihood that a conflict with one would expand to multiple fronts, causing simultaneous demands on US and allied resources.”
Experts concluded that the US should boost its presence in Europe to a full armored corps, a much larger commitment than exists today, accompanied by enablers such as air defense and aviation.
The report comes amid recent Western warnings regarding Russia’s alleged plans to attack Western Europe if it secures a victory over Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed such claims as “nonsense.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has similarly described the allegations as “horror stories,” and suggested they had been made up by Western leaders to distract people’s attention from problems in their own countries.
