Rebuild U.S. Strength Before the Next Crisis Breaks

For decades, U.S. military strength let Americans live normal lives while adversaries adjusted their plans. Today, the margin is thinner, and the cost of delay is higher.

The Readiness Gap Is Self-Inflicted

America must restore credible deterrence by rebuilding readiness and warfighting production, not by chasing new strategies without the hard power to back them. The core problem is not a lack of talent in uniform, but a lack of decisions in Washington that match the world as it is.

Congress bears the first responsibility. Year after year, continuing resolutions freeze training, disrupt procurement, and reward programs that spread jobs across districts instead of building usable forces on time.

The Department of Defense leadership bears the second responsibility. It has tolerated requirements bloat, delayed fielding of proven systems, and treated munitions and spare parts as afterthoughts rather than the lifeblood of sustained combat.

Defense contractors bear the third responsibility. Too many firms accepted long lead times, weak quality control, and buybacks that outpaced investment in surge capacity, while charging the taxpayer for “risk” they were not reducing.

Our stockpiles and industrial base now show the results. Precision munitions, air defenses, and artillery rounds have been consumed faster than they can be replaced, and shipbuilding delays compound year after year.

This is not a data mystery. The Navy continues to struggle to maintain and grow a fleet sized for multiple theaters, and the Air Force flies aging aircraft longer than planned because replacements arrive slowly.

Excuses Do Not Deter Aggression

The most common defense is that modernization must come first, even if readiness suffers. Modernization matters, but it cannot be a promissory note payable after the next crisis, when adversaries choose the timing.

Another excuse is that allies should do more before the United States invests. Allies should do more, but America cannot outsource the command of the global commons or the protection of its own citizens to parliamentary calendars abroad.

Some leaders argue that the private sector will innovate us out of the problem. Innovation is real, but wars are won by trained units with fuel, parts, munitions, and resilient communications, not by slide decks.

A final excuse is procedural: the system is too complex to change quickly. That is a choice, not a fact, and the people with authority to simplify requirements and enforce deadlines have chosen not to use it.

A Program for Strength and Discipline

The United States needs a practical reset built around three mechanisms: stable funding, an arsenal strategy, and accountable acquisition. Each is within reach in 2026 if Republican leaders treat national defense as a governing duty rather than a talking point.

First, Congress should pass on-time defense appropriations with a two-year readiness and munitions stability plan. That means no more governing by continuing resolution, and no more pretending that last year’s numbers match this year’s threats.

Second, the Pentagon must adopt an arsenal strategy that treats munitions and air defense as strategic assets, with minimum stockpile targets and a funded surge plan. The goal is simple: if a regional war breaks out, U.S. forces should not be rationing basic combat power in the first month.

Third, acquisition must be rebuilt around delivery, not paperwork. The Secretary of Defense should set hard timelines for key programs, use fixed-price production once designs are proven, and cut underperforming primes from follow-on work.

This approach is not new in spirit. In the early Cold War, America matched doctrine with industrial mobilization, and adversaries adjusted accordingly; today we need the same seriousness without waiting for a catastrophe to teach it.

These reforms also serve the all-volunteer force. Troops stay when training is real, equipment works, and leaders tell the truth about missions and risk.

Republicans in Congress should vote for on-time defense appropriations and refuse any continuing resolution that blocks training, depot maintenance, or munitions procurement. Republican committee chairs should subpoena program managers and contractors for quarterly public readiness and delivery hearings until stockpiles and shipyard backlogs move in the right direction.

A Republican administration should direct the Pentagon to publish stockpile minimums for key munitions, fund multi-year buys tied to verified capacity expansion, and audit maintenance delays at the major shipyards and air depots. It should replace senior acquisition leaders who miss delivery milestones and protect those who cancel failing programs.

Republican governors and attorneys general should strengthen the defense workforce pipeline by accelerating skilled-trades certification tied to shipbuilding, machining, and energetics, and by aligning state training funds to defense industrial jobs. Republican voters should demand candidates who commit, in writing, to appropriations on time, a munitions surge plan, and acquisition deadlines—and reject those who offer slogans instead of schedules.