Abandon Old Assumptions About Defense Spending

In 2010, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said, "The most significant threat to our national security is our debt." At the time the national debt was climbing fast. In 2008 it was about 68 percent of GDP, but due to the financial crisis it jumped to 82 percent the next year. Fast forward a decade to December 2020, when the debt was estimated at 108 percent of GDP, and...