Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 16

flexibility to make modest adjustments to military
compensation is expected to cost tens of billions of
dollars more. When factoring in new bills arising
from urgent investments—including our new efforts to renew our nuclear enterprise, space infrastructure, and technological modernization—the
hole in our budget could grow to more than $70
billion from 2016 to 2020. That is equivalent to
what our Navy will spend to buy all its battle force
ships over the next five years, and more than what
our Air Force will spend to buy all its aircraft over
the next five years.
All of this comes before DOD addresses the
possibility of a return to sequestration in fiscal year
2016. Sequestration remains the law of the land, and
it will return unless the law is changed. The continuation of sequestration could impose nearly $1 trillion in cuts to our defense budget over 10 years. We
have already begun taking those deep cuts over the
last few years. Going back to sequestration would
devastate our military readiness and threaten our
ability to execute our nation’s defense strategy.
Congress has a unique opportunity this year to
help the Defense Department, and all the department’s leaders will work closely with Congress to
address the realities of what this continued fiscal
pressure and uncertainty are doing to this institution and to our nation’s security.

Choosing Wisely
Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the fall
of the Berlin Wall—a reminder that America, along
with its allies, prevailed over a determined Soviet
adversary by coming together as a nation, for the
good of the nation.
Over decades and across party lines, we worked
together to make long-term, strategic investments
in innovation and in reform of our nation’s military—investments that ultimately helped us force
the Soviet regime to fold its hand.
America’s leaders made tough choices then—
and we must make tough choices now. We must
navigate through the current period of transition
and realignment, and we must face up to the realities and challenges that our defense enterprise
confronts today so that we will be ready for the
challenges of the future.
If we make the right investments—in our partnerships around the world, in innovation, and in
our defense enterprise—we will continue to keep
our nation’s military, and our nation’s global leadership, on a strong and sustainable path for the
twenty-first century.
As President Ronald Reagan once said, our
nation is at “a time for choosing”: for Congress,
for our political parties, and ultimately for the
American people.4 We must choose wisely.

Chuck Hagel is the 24th secretary of defense and the first enlisted combat veteran to lead the Department of Defense.
He served as a squad leader with the Army’s 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam, rising to the rank of sergeant and
earning numerous military decorations and honors, including two Purple Hearts. He subsequently graduated from
the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Secretary Hagel previously served as deputy administrator of the Veterans
Administration, and represented the state of Nebraska for twelve years in the United States Senate. This article is
adapted from his speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum, 15 November 2014.

Notes
1. Henry Kissinger, World Order (New York, NY: Penguin
Press, 2014).
2. ISIL stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
3. U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Defense
Annual Report, Fiscal Year 1982, by Harold Brown

14

(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 19 January
1981).
4. Ronald Reagan, “A Time for Choosing” (political speech,
Los Angeles, CA, 27 October 1964), available at http://www.
reaganfoundation.org (accessed 16 December 2014).

January-February 2015