{"id":44160,"date":"2015-06-05T14:55:20","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T14:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2015\/06\/05\/column-signing-off-with-thoughts-of-ike\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:43:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:43:01","slug":"column-signing-off-with-thoughts-of-ike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2015\/06\/05\/column-signing-off-with-thoughts-of-ike\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: Signing Off With Thoughts of Ike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In preparing for this, my final column as a Defense News staffer, I thought a lot about former President Dwight D. Eisenhower&#8217;s famous warning: &#8220;We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paradoxically, the longer I covered the military-industrial-congressional complex, the less I understood it. As the last dozen years piled up, so did the questionable outcomes, from the Iraq misadventure to all the troubled and canceled weapon programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most fascinating part of this gig was covering the political fallout of the 2011 Budget Control Act. I can&#8217;t help but wonder what Ike, himself an American war hero, would think of this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consider Feb. 12, 2013. That morning, the chiefs of the armed services delivered hours of bleak testimony. But even to a guy who at the time was working on his second liberal arts degree, the numbers behind their warnings just didn&#8217;t add up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As on that day, defense officials&#8217; primary public strategy against the budget caps has been to scare the bejesus out of everyone. They have warned that capped defense budgets represent a &#8220;doomsday mechanism&#8221; and a &#8220;sword of Damocles.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I wrote in my first column last May, the rhetoric has been one of a falling sky. Yet, years later, the defense sky remains intact. And budget guru Gordon Adams says annual defense budgets are headed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DoD officials have never quite succeeded in proving national security is at serious risk. Even pro-military defense analysts are distancing themselves from the bleak budgetary warnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s not that the scare tactics worked. They haven&#8217;t flipped that many lawmakers&#8217; votes. Rather, it feels like Pentagon officials and their allies on the Hill merely wore down everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, even top Democrats seem resigned to increas<span class=\"-newsgate--ccix-command-130\">\u00ad<\/span>ing defense spend<span class=\"-newsgate--ccix-command-130\">\u00ad<\/span>ing. Sure, Demo<span class=\"-newsgate--ccix-command-130\">\u00ad<\/span>crats oppose giv<span class=\"-newsgate--ccix-command-130\">\u00ad<\/span>ing DoD an addi<span class=\"-newsgate--ccix-command-130\">\u00ad<\/span>tional $38 billion next year \u2014 but they merely oppose how Republicans want to deliver that extra cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sky is <i>still<\/i> not falling. US troops are remarkably adaptable on the ever-changing battlefield. It&#8217;s time their superiors, especially the civilians who by law control the military, finally adapt to a political battlefield that has changed very little since 2011 and is unlikely to do so until at least 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some parting advice: Sheathe the sword. Or at least return it to Damocles like a grateful neighbor who achieved some home-repair victory with a borrowed tool \u2014 even if clumsily.<span class=\"-newsgate--ccix-command-8-10\"><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">***<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No final column would be complete without some sincere thank yous. First, to Defense News Editor Vago Muradian. Thank you, Vago. For molding me as a younger reporter. For being a mentor and a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To all those with whom I&#8217;ve worked since 2003: I learned a lot from each of you. Thank you for your camaraderie and hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you to all the sources who provided information, tips and insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And thanks to our readers \u2014 your collective loyalty still amazes me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, it&#8217;s time for a new beat and new adventures. Forever forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Email: <a href=\"mailto:jbennett@defensenews.com\">jbennett@defensenews.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twitter: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/@BennettJohnT\" title=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/@BennettJohnT\">@BennettJohnT<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paradoxically, the longer I covered the military-industrial-congressional complex, the less I understood it. As the last dozen years piled up, so did the questionable outcomes, from the Iraq misadventure to all the troubled and canceled weapon programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":84090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,33,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1090],"class_list":["post-44160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-home","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"SXWTXVAUCRDCPIOPY5XB4QDLGQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/2015\/06\/05\/column-signing-off-with-thoughts-of-ike\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Column: Signing Off With Thoughts of Ike - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paradoxically, the longer I covered the military-industrial-congressional complex, the less I understood it. As the last dozen years piled up, so did the questionable outcomes, from the Iraq misadventure to all the troubled and canceled weapon programs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Column: Signing Off With Thoughts of Ike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paradoxically, the longer I covered the military-industrial-congressional complex, the less I understood it. 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