A foreign policy expert with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) criticized the Biden Administration’s National Security Strategy for prioritizing climate change, “equity” and “inclusion” over actual national security.
“The problem is not only (or not mainly) the top line of the Biden Administration’s fiscal year 23 defense budget but what is in it, which includes the allocation of billions of dollars towards climate change, retirement of two dozen ships and over 200 aircraft and more cuts to acquisition. This at a time when China, our top adversary, is building its fleet and advanced weaponry,” Jacob Olidort, director of the Center for American Security at the nonprofit, non-partisan research institute, said in a statement provided to State Newswire.
The FY 2023 defense budget allocates more than $3 billion to address climate change, a Department of Defense release said.
“More problematic still is that this budget came out before the Biden Administration’s National Security Strategy (which was just released very late, earlier this month),” Olidort said in the statement. “That document mentions ‘climate change’ more than ‘China’ and the words ‘equity’ and ‘inclusion’ are front and center in the section on the military. In fact the words ‘equity’ and ‘inclusion’ appear more often than the word ‘adversaries’, which tells you where the Biden Administration’s focus is. We now see in the unclassified National Defense Strategy, also released late – on Oct. 27 – that there is no discussion of force structure or explanation for how the Biden Administration plans to address its major cuts in ships and aircraft."
A September report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said to maintain international order and preserve its role as a global leader, the United States should increase or restructure military spending. Diplomacy and economic instruments are preferred, but a dominant military is necessary to ensure those measures are successful.
The report calls the Biden Administration “shy” in increasing or restructuring military spending as needed to restore U.S. military power, partially due to criticism that U.S. military spending is already greater than that of the next nine countries combined. While acknowledging that claim is true, the report said it fails to recognize the U.S.' position as a global leader and its responsibilities in that capacity, as well as that military spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was much higher during the Cold War.
Critics have pointed to a recent U.S. Navy training video focused on pronouns as an example of the military going “woke,” ABC 15 News reported. The video encourages Navy personnel to use gender-neutral terms and explains how to respond if someone is "misgendered". The United States Military Academy at West Point has been teaching critical race theory (CRT) and gender ideology, according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch. “Our military is under attack – from within,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “These documents show racist, anti-American CRT propaganda is being used to try to radicalize our rising generation of Army leadership at West Point."
The U.S. military needs more than 150,000 new recruits annually to offset attrition and retirement. Fewer Americans are willing and able to serve, according to Bloomberg. Approximately 75% of Americans between 17 and 24 are ineligible. Only 2% of Americans between the ages of 17 and 21 are eligible and interested in serving, the Department of Defense said.
Olidort previously worked in the Defense Department, the State Department and CIA, as well as in the Office of the Vice President, helping to coordinate the federal pandemic response. He also served as a senior foreign policy advisor to Senators Josh Hawley and Orrin Hatch.
