During his confirmation hearing to become US defense secretary, Ash Carter rightly argued for greater budgetary restraint, reform and more defense investment.
His appearance came two days after the Obama administration submitted its $585 billion 2016 defense budget request that is $36 billion more than current budget caps allow.
That increase is doubtful, Carter said, unless he can prove that the Pentagon will spend more wisely and efficiently.
Proof of better financial control and accountability is key. While the Pentagon has made progress in saving money, it has a strategic imperative to change how it operates and increase its agility.
Early in his tenure as DoD acquisition chief, Carter wisely noted that too often, DoD moves too slowly. Speed was critical to fielding new systems, capabilities and concepts. Time is both money and an irreplaceable element of flexibility.
In a fast-paced world where the proliferation of technology is already undermining US military superiority, speed is more essential than ever.
Reform is hard work and results take time. Cost-saving moves implemented years ago are only now bearing fruit, and while the individual savings appear small, together they add up to many billions of dollars annually.
DoD must tackle its structural challenges, but it can't succeed without help from Congress. Together, the Pentagon and lawmakers must forge a comprehensive reform agenda rather than a collection of piecemeal efforts.
In the meantime, DoD's budget should not be held ransom. The financial chaos of the past several years has damaged readiness and undermined programs. Investment needs to start flowing now for new weapons and technologies as well as readiness to ensure a force that is large, capable and ready to handle any challenge.
Great powers like China and Russia, and non-state actors like the Islamic State group, seek to overturn the international rules-based order to expand their reach. But only China and Russia have the means to do it, using a range of political, diplomatic and military tools to undermine or intimidate neighbors into making territorial and economic concessions.
With the return of great power politics — as noted in the new US National Security Strategy — America and its allies must step up their game to deter potential adversaries from aggression based on faulty assumptions of weakness.
The United States, with its rapidly recovering economy, in particular can afford a greater strategic investment in its security. It must make clear to friends and foes that it has the will and means to remain a trusted guarantor of security.
That means more closely engaging its European and Pacific allies on key initiatives like Deputy Secretary Bob Work's emerging Third Offset strategy. Here, Work has a ready and capable ally in French Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, in a partnership that can harness the best of the alliance to address common challenges, avoid unnecessary and costly duplication of effort, and boost interoperability.
Export control reforms that allow easier sharing of ideas, technologies and systems are critical, and the US State Department and Pentagon deserve credit for their new initiative that for the first time allows NATO members to share American-made hardware — addressing a long-standing complaint among Washington's allies.
In Washington and elsewhere, national security reforms are vital. But so is investment. Militaries must spend wisely, but efficiency is not their only measure of merit. At a time of escalating tensions in Europe and the Pacific, the best insurance against conflict and instability is robust investment in meaningful military capability.
