This is a series, I on the world. I'm John Bachelor. In 1970 I learned from a new

column at the Wall Street Journal by Michael Boskin of the Hoover Institution and Mr.

Sweetar of the McCreary Institute for Cybersecurity in 1970, a very good year the National Defense Authorization Act was 10 pages long

and passed in one day by voice vote in the Congress.

It is now 2024 and I am told by Professor Boskin that the National Defense

Authorization Act will be 100 times longer and the voice vote is a fantasy I guess so I welcome Michael to

explain what happened in the intervening 54 years that we need so much more time and have so much more acrimony and so many

more pages in the National Defense Authorization Act.

Michael, a very good evening to you, thank you and welcome. What did happen 54 years later? We're smart people. What did we do wrong? Good evening to you.

Good evening, John. It's always a pleasure to be with you and I always enjoy your program. Let me start by saying in 1970 we had a larger military and a wider presence around the world.

We have reduced our footprint in many places the Navy is much smaller

Cetera, but the threats now are perhaps even more daunting. We have a more some have called an access of evil among Russia, Iran, China, North Korea,

etc.

Each focused on their own region. So we have serious challenges. Back in 1970 and for most of the years in between

while the National Defense Authorization Act grew, I'll get back to that in a second, the

Armed Services Committees and the Armed Services Appropriations tended to act in a

relatively bipartisan way and understood the importance of a strong military.

We have had various Presidencies where the spending on the military has gone down and social spending has gone up.

That was true, for example, of President Carter, it was true of President Clinton.

It was especially true of President Obama,

and now especially of President Biden

who every year has submitted a budget

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