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Friend,

We have lost command of the Western Pacific to China, according to our Pacific Commander. Does anyone else in the current presidential field know how to reform the military to be more effective at less cost, by harnessing cyber and other new technologies?

In my op-ed in the Newark Star-Ledger (below), I wrote that while our military still ranks as the best in the world, it is losing that position because too many vested interests hold it back from responding to the challenges of tomorrow instead of those of yesteryear. The issue is not how much money we are spending, but how we are spending it. We need to transform our military forces by focusing on force posture, not force structure. Instead of measuring military readiness in terms of overall size and numbers, we must focus on metrics of capability, particularly in technology, and positioning.

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For example, rather than buying more submarines at $2 billion each, we can develop a netted sensor information system to track enemy submarines, and then direct an aircraft to drop a torpedo for the “kill.” This is even more germane as water becomes translucent, eventually transparent, by emerging technologies. Rather than double-down on less relevant, expensive units, we must invest in new technology that gives us better capability, not just more unnecessary capacity at more cost.

We need to realize that the key battlefield today is no longer necessarily on land, on air or on sea – it is in cyberspace . Some of the greatest national security threats we face cannot be defeated or defended by traditional military hardware, but only by greatly enhanced cyberspace warfare, including both offensive cyber-warfare and cyber-security.

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Precisely how such technological capability affects traditional warfare is why numbers as the measure of our military might are obsolete. Take the most powerful Navy “unit" — the aircraft carrier. Today, one carrier can strike eight times the targets in 24 hours as it could two decades ago — giving us 80 carrier equivalents as compared to just 10 carriers a few years ago. An investment in the new domain of cyberspace from just 10 carrier equivalents (1 carrier “unit”) would provide an immense growth in warfare capability.

In fact, our Pacific commander now says that we have lost command of the Western Pacific — the first loss of command of the seas since World War II. He has said that we need to redirect our investment to put more into cyberspace.

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We need smart defense reform that can allow us to do more with less – focusing on cyberspace, sensors, robotics, artificial intelligence and other new technologies that reflect what our military needs today. We must break out of the paradigm of the military–industrial–congressional complex. Without such reform, we will permit those innovative warriors of other nations such as China to command future warfare.

Who else in the field knows the Department of Defense and how to build a more effective, more efficient military for the 21st century? Please contribute to ensure I can be a voice for a smart national security policies in this presidential race. [[link removed]]

Warmest regards,
Joe

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Joe Sestak for President
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