Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.
Sheikh Qassem: The government’s latest decision [on the disarmament of the Resistance] is non-charter-based, and if the government continues down this path, it is not faithful to Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Biden's maximalist national security strategy has US on military edge

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Responsible Statecraft
  • 23 Feb 2024 13:06
5 Min Read

Biden is proposing a generation of investment to amp up the arms industry, which continues to fail in meeting cost, schedule, and performance standards.

  • x
  • President Joe Biden arrives at Los Angeles International Airport, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP)
    President Joe Biden arrives at Los Angeles International Airport, on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP)

The US defense industry under the Biden administration has been in a constant state of ruckus, as it is doubled to satisfy supplies for foreign arms and foreign wars. Responsible Statecraft reports that the new National Defense Industrial Strategy intends to “catalyze generational change” of the defense industrial base and to “meet the strategic moment."

All the "strategic moments" concern competition with China, US aid to Ukraine against Russia, and "Israel’s" genocidal campaign in Gaza.

Biden is proposing a generation of investment to amp up the arms industry, which continues to fail in meeting cost, schedule, and performance standards. Meanwhile, contractors have already covered their backs against any political potential for future national security cuts.

However, increasing the military-industrial base means giving more leverage to arms makers, which, in turn, leads to increased national security spending - most of which goes to contractors. According to RS, the US puts more cash on national security than the next 10 countries combined. It beats China alone by 30%.

Even so, the Biden administration acknowledges that “America’s economic security and national security are mutually reinforcing,” and that “the nation’s military strength depends in part on our overall economic strength.”

Read next: How US economy benefits from war in Europe: WSJ

Optimizing the nation’s defense needs, according to the Biden plan, needs tradeoffs between “cost, speed, and scale,” but there is no mention of quality in return for all three factors.

Examples like the B-2 bomber, the F-35 fighter jet, the Littoral Combat Ship, the V-22 Osprey, and others have proven acquisition failures while a report by the Accountability Office shows that costs and delivery time continue to increase even though the number of major defense acquisition programs continue to drop. So truly, what's the military gaining in return? 

Related News

Trump orders national guard expansion in Washington

Musk’s xAI sues Apple, OpenAI over antitrust collusion in AI market

A 'permanent' state of war

This is where economic failure comes into play. The Congressional Budget Office anticipates that because of acquisition failures, operations and maintenance budgets will significantly exceed the rate of inflation for the next 10 years. This faces a military that does not intend to reduce its force or its industrial aims.

Earlier this month, a report published by the Heritage Foundation commenting on the think tank's annual Index of US Military Strength said that the US military is currently at its weakest point in the past decade with no signs of this trend reversing, while its adversaries are only growing stronger.

Biden’s new National Defense Industrial Strategy states that the US must “move aggressively toward innovative, next-generation capabilities while continuing to upgrade and produce, in significant volumes, conventional weapons systems already in the force.” However, the RS argues that it remains ironic as the US has spent decades developing the F-35 fighter jet, which the Pentagon still hasn’t given a green light for full-rate production, as time and money run out. 

Another priority is to “institutionalize supply chain resilience,” but this is a task handed to the Pentagon  by investing in “spare production capacity,” which is “excess capacity a company or organization maintains beyond its current production needs.”

That “spare production capacity” is intended by the Pentagon to be funded by US taxpayer money.

An additional priority in the plan is “flexible acquisition”, which is defined in the strategy to be done by reducing costs and development times while increasing adaptability. The Biden administration suggests “a flexible requirements process” for multiyear contracts and states that it is due to a shift in an “evolving threat environment."

Multiyear contracting doesn't mean cheaper. Although the Pentagon claims multiyear contracts give contractors the “demand signal” they constantly ask for to begin production, contractors aren't putting their extra money on identifying strengths or making capital investments to maximize output. The Pentagon isn't paying attention to that either. 

“Aggressive expansion of production capacity” is yet another priority on the list which means that during peacetime, weapons acquisition centers on “greater efficiency, cost-effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.”

The plan does not specifically say that the US is in a state of war, but it compares the acquisition policy with “today’s threat environment,” as it urges for a “crisis period acquisition policy” that revives the industrial base, shifting from efficiency to ensuring that contractors are “better resourced".

This is where the clouds clear up: Contractors don't need more resourcing, and this “crisis acquisition policy” puts the US on a “permanent war footing,” the RS report concludes.

  • United States
  • Arms sale
  • Pentagon
  • Israel
  • China
  • Ukraine
  • Gaza
  • Joe Biden

Most Read

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, executive director of the defense division of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate, undated (Social media)

Israeli-born US prosecutor drops Israeli officer child sex crime

  • Politics
  • 19 Aug 2025
Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen toward the occupied Palestinian territories. (YAF military media)

Yemeni Forces announce firing hypersonic missile at Al-Lydd Airport

  • Politics
  • 22 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in al-Quds, Occupied Palestine, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Netanyahu deliberately derailing truce with Gaza occupation: Hamas

Irish President Michael Higgins arrives to deliver his speech during a 42nd World Food Day celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Politics

Irish president renews call for UN military intervention in Gaza

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the US Embassy in Aukar, northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy, Netanyahu discuss restraining attacks on Lebanon, withdrawal

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in multiple areas in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ansar Allah vow sustained Gaza support despite Israeli strikes

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS