I lost the link in a system crash the other day but I had a new republic story saved that had some quotes from the department of defense that were pretty unsettling.
Basically they claimed that we can’t really track who has access to our technology due to global outsourcing.
Article really points out how much a threat Free Trade Globalism has been to National Security.
I am not that old....but I can still remember when we executed for treason anyone who considered letting the enemy build our sensitive military and security-related equipment.
Sad is that we have buffoons who actually post on FR, and claim that all this Free Trade Globalism is “good”. Wonder if they will still feel the same after the Communist Chinese nuke their city, or, wipe it out in a biological attack.
Our National Security is tantamount to our survival. Supporting Free Trade Globalism is a threat to our security and soverignty.
Maybe we could hire the Gurkas? Send them to the Sandboxes and make the Marines in to a Gay Community Organization.
Just think WW II. If the US was dependent on importing from Japan, Germany and China, we would have lost WW II.
Prior to the end of the Cold War, defense procurement was still mostly controlled by the Defense Department and most items still made in the US. Someone needs to write a book about how our national security has been compromised by allowing short-sighted commercial interests to begin making many of the decisions once made, or at least approved of by the Pentagon. Someone might already have written that book, but this is a fairly recent development in our nation’s history.
There is an intelligent form of outsourcing that could save a huge amount of money, as well as help maintain the quality of the US military.
A major problem right now is that many of the missions are low-intensity, very extended non-combat operations. Such missions could easily be staffed by civilian security guards with rifles.
Conversely, there are a lot of missions in nasty places full of nasty people, read “Africa”, where we just do not want to deploy our sons and daughters.
The solution to both these problems is to set up an American Foreign Legion, modeled after the French Foreign Legion. Except, likely managed by a company like Blackwater Security (Xe).
Stationed most likely in the Caribbean, on their own island, they could recruit from the best from around the world, yet like the FFL, their officers were either be active duty or reserve US military officers.
Importantly, on a low intensity mission, using a subcontractor like this could save tens of billions of dollars, even providing them with transportation and logistical support. And our active duty military could keep its edge in equipment, training and readiness.
Likewise, our foreign policy would no longer have to neglect even the nastiest parts of Africa as possible deployments. Just using mercenaries, not our sons and daughters.
What’s not to like?