America’s military is in the worst shape it has been in decades and is at real risk of losing a war to near-peer rivals like China or Russia if one were to break out, according to national security experts that spoke at a D.C. panel on Wednesday.
The panel, hosted by the Heritage Foundation, consisted of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, former military strategist Elbridge Colby, and candidate for Congress and former Green Beret Joe Kent. The event was opened by Heritage President Kevin Roberts, who said that the goal for the U.S. military is for it to be “the most lethal military in the history of civilization, which, hopefully, is used on a very limited basis.”
After the introduction, the panelists began painting a bleak picture of the state of the U.S. military, claiming it is weaker than it has been in years. Sen. Wicker warned that Chinese ship-building capacity “is 230 times the size of [the U.S.] ship-building capacity,” adding, “To prove it, they launched 30 ships last year, and one was an aircraft carrier.”
Pivoting to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Wicker opined, “The good news coming out of Ukraine is that it has awakened NATO” in that the other nations in the alliance are stepping up their own defense spending, and two new nations — Finland and Sweden — have been admitted.
Wicker then contended that Iran is using Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the Houthis of Yemen as proxies against the U.S. because Iran does not want a direct war with the superpower.
Gen. Kellogg spoke about a “leadership problem” in the military manifested by a lack of accountability. Speaking candidly, Kellogg said, “We lost a 20-year war in Afghanistan. Who’s been held accountable for that?”
This sentiment was echoed by Kent, who asked, “What did we get out of it?”
Colby spoke about supporting more defense spending but acknowledged, “The systemic structural deficits in our defense industrial base … are not going to be fixed overnight.” He also warned that the U.S. being defeated by China in a regional war centered over Taiwan was a very real possibility that could come to fruition in the not-too-distant future.
“We think we might lose a war to China,” he said.
Kent also addressed the devastating purge of seasoned soldiers in the military ranks by the Biden administration’s policies and vaccine mandates.
“The first thing [Biden] did when he came in is, he said: ‘Hey, you guys that have been fighting for the last 20 plus years. I don’t trust you. I think if you voted for the other guy, you might be a Nazi or a white supremacist, and we have to do this extremist stand down.’ And then the vaccine mandate: ‘Hey, take this shot, or I will kick you out of the military.'”
Continuing on the theme of morale within the military, Kellogg admitted that when asked if he would recommend joining the military to men and women today, his answer would be “no.”
After the panel, Kent spoke with The Dallas Express, emphasizing that funding the military is about securing America’s border.
“We won’t secure our own border,” he remarked. “Absolute insanity. … That really does affect people.”
He noted that spending billions more on military adventures may not be realistic with the current economic situation affecting vast numbers of Americans.
“Inflation is stealing, I don’t know, $11,000 to $14,000 every year from working Americans. ‘Hey guys, we’re going to need some more money so we can secure the Red Sea shipping lanes.’ How do you sell that to the American people?” Kent said.
“Hey, just four years ago, we weren’t on the cusp of World War III on multiple fronts. … Right now, we’re on the cusp of, like, major global conflict.”