The U.S. Military: Is there a DOGE in its future?
By Dr. Harold A. Black
blackh@knoxfocus.com
haroldblackphd.com
In arguing against the nomination of Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense, the Rev. Senator Honorable Doctor Raphael Warnock said, “As a voice for Georgia’s nearly 100,000 active duty service members and reservists, and as the son of a veteran, I understand the tremendous sacrifice our service members and their families make to protect and serve our nation. Since coming to the Senate, I’ve always prioritized military readiness and protecting the safety of our men and women in uniform. That is why I voted against Pete Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Department of Defense.”
Hardly. Warnock is about as concerned about the welfare of the military as he is about the welfare of unborn babies in their mother’s womb.
There are actually 120,000 service members stationed in Georgia. They certainly are doing a great job protecting us from whatever they are protecting us from. I know that the military is sacrosanct to most conservatives but the military’s budget and status must be scrutinized by Trump and Elon Musk like any other federally funded group. You know if there is fraud and abuse at USAID with a budget of “only” $40 billion, there must be rampant fraud and abuse at an agency with a $850 billion budget that is greater than the next eleven countries combined.
There are 2.9 million service members worldwide. There are over 750 military bases across 80 countries. There are over 4,760 military sites of which 2,600 are in the U.S. We have 65,000 troops in the Middle East, 100,000 in Europe, 55,000 in Japan and 26,000 in South Korea. Does that mean that Georgia needs defending more than these countries? There are 30 bases in Okinawa. Thirty? Hank Johnson (D-GA) is probably wondering why the island hasn’t sunk. Remember at a hearing on the military buildup in Guam he said, “My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.” Maybe that is why the ocean around Okinawa is rising.
Why do we have so many military bases? The UK has 145 bases. The Russians have only a couple of dozen. China has 160, with 80 in their own territories. We are protecting Germany (where we have 30,000 troops) and Japan against the Russians and the Chinese. But can’t they protect themselves? They did an awfully good job of doing so in World War II. Is it because we fear the Germans and the Japanese? The Japanese pay us over $2 billion a year for our bases there. The Europeans pay us over $3 billion annually, which covers about 22 percent of total costs. Trump has in the past asked those countries to pay more. He has questioned the scale of the U.S. troop presence in Europe and has raised the possibility of relocating or reducing the U.S. footprint on the continent. He has even said that the military’s budget might be slashed in half.
It is a discussion worth having. First, the Pentagon needs to pass its audit, for the first time in a decade. We need to know where every dollar goes. Second, there needs to be an assessment of troop strength with the possibility of decreasing the number of U.S. bases. Third, there needs to be a discussion as to whether we should continue to be the world’s policeman. The mere fact that the U.S. presence is so ubiquitous around the world means that other countries can use their resources in places other than on their militaries. Trump and Pete Hegseth are attacking vigorously the DEI and trans ideology that have infested the military. Hegseth says he wants to return the military to its primary mission of being a lethal force rather than a social laboratory. Do it! But he will also need to address the question as to whether such a large military force, such a large budget and such a surfeit of bases around the world are really necessary. My guess is that the military is bloated and should be treated as such. But politicians on the right and even those on the left, like Warnock, will resist mightily any effort to shut down bases in their states. But do we really need more troops protecting Georgia than protecting Germany?
