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In March, management consulting firm McKinsey predicted that the United States’ Department of Defense could see $100 billion wiped off its purchasing power over the next five years amid skyrocketing inflation.
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Months on, and monthly inflation rates in the US have continued to grow.
Facing rising staff costs for over one million military personnel, and not to mention price increases for military equipment, reduced US military purchasing power has come at a challenging time for the US military as it prepares for a return to great power competition.
Writing in War on the Rocks this week, Republican Representative Rob Wittman, member of the US House of Representatives representing Virginia’s 1st District, unpacked how the US military could greater optimise defence spending in the Indo-Pacific.
In his analysis, Rep Wittman recommended the US government and military take a closer look at two specific programs: the International Security Cooperation Programs and the Regional Defense Fellowship Program. According to the representative, both would bring the US closer to its regional allies and enable them to collaborate more effectively to strengthen the Indo-Pacific.
Simply — without closer collaboration with the US allies and amid a declining US budget, Rep Wittman warns that allied influence in the region would decline.
“China is well prepared to fill any gaps left by the United States, as recently demonstrated by Beijing sending fighter jets to participate in a joint exercise with Thailand,” Rep Wittman argued.
“Underfunding these accounts incentivizes US adversaries to gain stronger and larger footholds worldwide.”
Rep Wittman described the US’ International Security Cooperation Programs as funding “activities aimed at building partner capacity to address shared national security challenges and operate in tandem with or in lieu of US forces. Specifically, it includes funding for institutional capacity building, train-and-equip programs, and the Indo-Pacific Maritime Security Initiative.”
Despite supporting a range of essential military services in the region including military intelligence and border security, the Indo-Pacific only accounted for 16 per cent of the budget’s allocation in 2019. While it has subsequently increased to a projected 26 per cent of the budget, Rep Wittman noted that long-term stability must be prioritised over reactive policy.
He further recommended that the US provide greater attention to the Regional Defense Fellowship Program, which seeks to provide training to defence and security officials in allied nations. Not only is the program designed to foster relationships between US military officials and their partners, but it is also designed to equip regional militaries with the capability to build a stronger and more resilient defence apparatuses.
Here, though, the Indo-Pacific Command receives only between 11 and 15 per cent of the allocated funds to the broader program allocation (Section 345).
To mitigate the threat of China stepping in “to fill any gaps”, the representative recommends greater oversight to ensure that funding is correctly allocated to optimise the military budget between US military capabilities as well as strengthening alliances.
“Two House provisions will be critical for determining how to treat these accounts and should be maintained in the final bill. Section 1201 requires enhanced reporting on where and how dollars within several of these accounts are allocated. This also itemizes the activities they support — such as the estimated execution costs to complete all Section 345 Department of Defense training activities,” Representative Wittman wrote.
“I also supported section 1305, which directs US Indo-Pacific Command to submit an annual report on opportunities to enhance defense cooperation with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, including mutual visits, exercises, training, and equipment opportunities.”
Your say
Join the conversation in the comments section below and have your say on how the United States and Australia can better optimise their relationship in the Indo-Pacific.
[Related: Safeguarding America’s tech supremacy in the Indo-Pacific]
