From Merely Stupid to Dangerous: The Sequester’s Effects on National and Economic Security

Because of the structure of defense spending, our national security forces and defense industry have been able to continue operating under sequestration, but not without permanent damage. The full brunt of the cuts hasn’t hit yet, and if we go down the sequester path for too long, we won’t be able to reverse the devastating impacts. It isn’t primarily the size of either the federal budget or the defense budget that poses problems; it is the dramatic change in the composition of those budgets over the decade—entitlements are pushing out investments. And sequester worsens that trend.

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