[UPI] U.S. Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis warns that the military is in grave danger of becoming a "hollow force." Few Americans, especially in Congress, understand that the most pernicious and potentially most dangerous threat to the United States military is not North Korea, Daesh, Iran or even Russia or China. Instead, this threat is homegrown, ironically arising from the law and the way the Department of Defense is forced to conduct its business.
In a letter to Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, with copies to other members dated Sept. 8, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis specified reasons why the U.S. military is in grave danger.
Citing the harm done to the U.S. military by a combination of continuing resolutions, as opposed to passing a real defense budget; sequestration that imposes mandatory and arbitrary cuts; and budget caps that limit defense spending, Mattis bluntly informed Congress that without relief "our air, land and sea fleets will erode." The secretary's understatement speaks volumes. In fact, the U.S. military is at great risk of becoming a "hollow force," that is a force incapable of carrying out its missions and infected with low morale.
Following Vietnam, as happens after every war, the U.S. military imploded into a hollow force. The consequence is that when it was ordered into action, it often failed. Desert One, the raid to free 54 Americans held hostage in Tehran in 1980 was the textbook case of military failure. Had war broken out in Korea or against the Soviet Union, it would not have gone well. Fortunately, deterrence and containment prevailed and the hollow force did no lasting damage to the nation.