This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, December 23rd, 2013.

I'm Caleb Brown.

How do we get a defense budget more in line with the actual threats the U.S. faces.

Daniel Dresner is a professor of international politics at Tufts University.

He spoke at the Cato Institute's conference on threat perception and

national security held in October.

What have you learned so far today?

You've learned first, the U.S. spends an awful lot on defense.

You know, if you compare the United States expenditures to the rest of the world

the US is now responsible for close to 40% of worldwide military expenditures

and close to 60% of great power military expenditures. We spend an awful damn lot. You have also learned

that threat perception has been perhaps inflated and that in fact if you actually do a more accurate

assessment of the actual threats to the United States,

perhaps the threats don't match that military spending, that there would be ways in which you could cut back.

Another thing that I don't think you've learned, but I think should be talked about is actually the political shifts within the United States about defense spending, which is I think 10 years ago, you could absolutely talk about how trying to go after defense would be the third

rail of politics. I think if anything the last two years shifts particularly within

the GOP have made it such that you can now talk about pushing for cuts in defense spending and get reelected.

And that increasingly the GOP which used to be thought of is the Uber-Hawkish party, I don't

think is anymore.

I think the Hawks are actually a minority within that party now.

So this leads to an interesting question.

If there are these pressures to cut defense spending,

...