The Single Biggest Threat to Our National Security

“The Single Biggest Threat To Our National Security”
Will either candidate discuss how the national debt is undermining American foreign policy at tonight’s debate?

Arlington, Va.—Both President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney will have the opportunity to address what has been described as the “single biggest threat to our national security” by former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, during tonight’s debate on foreign policy in Boca Raton, Fla.  Just last month, Admiral Mullen said, “A nation with our current levels of unsustainable debt … cannot hope to sustain for very long its superiority from a military perspective, or its influence in world affairs.” Recently, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad echoed that sentiment, asking, “How long can a government with a $16 trillion foreign debt remain a world power?”

As a result of Washington’s failure to reach a deal during debt ceiling negotiations this summer, across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration are scheduled to take effect at the beginning of the year and will impact both domestic and defense programs.  These cuts were intended to be a “worst-case-scenario” to compel lawmakers to come together. However, with no agreement the American people are left with looming cuts to defense and non-defense discretionary spending.

Gretchen Hamel, executive director of Public Notice, issued the following statement prior to tonight’s debate:

“We cannot continue to borrow from other nations to feed a spending habit in Washington that’s making us more vulnerable and less secure at home. In the last year alone, our national debt has undermined our standing in the global economy, reduced our influence in the world and resulted in a ‘worst-case-scenario’ of arbitrary, across-the-board cuts to defense. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, called our debt the ‘single biggest threat to our national security,’ and any discussion of foreign policy by Mitt Romney and President Obama should include a clear plan to reduce spending and strengthen American leadership in the world.”

America’s $16 trillion national debt hasn’t gone unnoticed.  Here’s what they’ve been saying: 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted the impending downfall of the ‘US empire,’ blaming the collapse on a combination of the country’s massive debt and its loss of legitimacy within the international community, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported Thursday. ’How long can a government with a $16,000 trillion foreign debt remain a world power? … The Americans have injected their paper wealth into the world economy and today the aftermaths and negative effects of their pseudo-wealth have plagued them.’” (“Iran: How Long Can Debt-Laden U.S. Remain World Power?,”  Jerusalem Post, 10/18/12)

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble

“In an unsatirizable display of chutzpah, Mr. Obama reproved Europeans for not wrestling their debt problems under control. Given that Mr. Obama is responsible for spiking U.S. national debt to a record $15.8 trillion, which surpasses our gross domestic product for a whole year, his advice makes about as much sense as a hard-core drug addict telling others they shouldn’t drink too much caffeine. … ‘People are always very quick at giving others advice,’ an irritated German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday. ‘Mr. Obama should first of all take care of reducing the American deficit, which is higher than in the eurozone.’” (“Obama’s German tutorial“, Brett Decker, Washington Times 6/25/12)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waded into the nation’s fiscal debate Wednesday, calling the expected $1.3 trillion U.S. deficit a ‘message of weakness internationally.’ ‘It poses a national security threat in two ways: it undermines our capacity to act in our own interest, and it does constrain us where constraint may be undesirable…’” (“Clinton Says deficit is a national security threat,” The Hill, 9/8/10)

Former President Bill Clinton

“Let’s talk about the debt. We have to deal with it or it will deal with us.” – Bill Clinton, Democratic National Convention, 9/5/12

Council on Foreign Relations

“‘The most important national security question for the coming year is actually the domestic set of issues that involves the economy.’  says Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.” (America’s Biggest National Security Threat: U.S. Debt, Yahoo Finance, 4/3/12)

Concerned Veterans For America

“Those who have worn the uniform know that this nation’s strength and freedoms stand on the foundation of a healthy, growing economy. They also know that when the economy struggles, the nation’s security is at risk.  And when you add a towering national debt—now closing in on $16 trillion—to the mix, you have a recipe for disaster. Right now we’re seeing that disaster unfold in slow motion, as the prospect of ill-advised defense spending cuts under ‘sequestration’ are set to take place in January. Those cuts will have a huge impact on our force readiness (including, as I’ve written here before, compromised training for military personnel).” (Vets say economy, debt top national security threats, Pete Hegseth, The Hill 8/15/12)

CNN Money

“If the debt continues to grow unbridled, the U.S. government will be constrained in its ability to pay for what it wants to do militarily and diplomatically. And it could limit the country’s leverage with foreign powers.” (“Why debt is a threat to national security,” Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Money, 10/22/12)

Christian Science Monitor

From the article, “5 most urgent national security issues next president will face,” the Christian Science Monitor writes, “1) Come back from the fiscal cliff and shrink the debt. This is as much an issue of national security as it is domestic economics.  … Leadership requires the ability to make choices and back them up with resources. But shrinking budgets, big deficits, looming debt, and a weak economy mean Washington has no resources to spare. …This leads us to eschew involvement in serious crises such as Syria, or retreat from military operations even without success.” (“5 most urgent national security issues next president will face, Kurt Volker, Christian Science Monitor, 10/22/12)

NBC News

“Overseas spending is being squeezed by the inexorable increase in the number of Baby Boomer retirees collecting ever-more expensive Social Security and Medicare benefits. … Fiscal constraint is also a factor in nuclear arms control, an issue the candidates have scarcely discussed outside the context of Iran.”  (“In foreign policy, both Obama and Romney face fiscal realities,” Tom Curry, NBC News, 10/22/12)