HAGEL: The World Is 'Damn Dangerous' And Our Army Is Not Ready
"The world is dangerous. It is damn dangerous," Hagel said.
Earlier on, Hagel conceded to an array of US foreign policy failures read aloud by Rose from the op-ed pages of The New York Times, adding they came in response to an unprecedented and uniquely volatile global environment.
"We live in this imperfect, dynamic, changing, threatening, dangerous, interconnected world that we have never seen before, that we have never seen anything like this before," Hagel said. "And so policies, yes, are predicated on historical knowledge and cultural awareness and all that goes into that. Have we made mistakes over a series of many years? Yeah, I think we have. I think anybody would agree to that. But that's not the issue. That's not the responsibility I have now or the president has or John Kerry. Our responsibilities now are to find ways that we can make it better, find strategies and policies that work within a world of uncontrollables."
Hagel went on to lament the mismatch between these unique challenges facing the DoD and its shrinking budget.
The Defense Department is "being called upon to do more everywhere. I mean, look at the last six months, where - we now are involved where we weren't six months ago," Hagel said. "And our budget continues to be cut. Something doesn't connect here. And that's going to have to change."
Hagel's message echoed part of the speech he delivered at the Reagan Library on Saturday. The location then was an appropriate one; as president Reagan once said that "defense is not a budget issue. You spend what you need."
Perhaps the secretary's only prescription in the hour-long interview - which touched on the threat presented by the jihadist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS and ISIL), the approaching deadline to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, Russia's campaign of careful aggression, and China's growing regional ambitions - was his hope that the new Congress in January would reconsider the department's budget cuts.
Without relief from the cuts Hagel said the United States could find itself losing pole position for the first time since World War II. And that would mean the risk of one day fighting "a fair fight."
"We won't have the readiness. We won't have the capability. We won't have long-term investments that this institution requires to stay ahead of everybody else, as we have since World War II, with the technological edge, with the ability to continue to recruit and retain the best people."
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Markets rebound in early trade amid global rally, buying in ICICI Bank and Reliance
- Women in Leadership
- Rupee declines 5 paise to 83.43 against US dollar in early trade
- Election Commission issues notification for sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls
- 6 Coffee recipes you should try this summer
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market