Description

The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War have profoundly changed U.S. defense needs. Just what a prudent U.S. national defense system will be in the post-Cold War era is not yet clear. But it will almost certainly require less money and fewer people than it did in the 40 years when this Nation faced a hostile and obdurate military superpower with a huge army poised at the borders of Western Europe. Welcome as these changes are, they have serious implications for the people, companies, and communities that have depended on defense spending for their livelihood. The changes also raise some potentially troubling questions about adjustment for the Nation as a whole. Compared to the size of the national economy, the current cutbacks in defense spending do not loom very large. Even at the height of the Reagan buildup, defense spending never reached as big a share of gross national product (GNP) as in the Korean or Vietnam Wars, not to mention World War II, nor has the decline so far been as steep as in those earlier eras.