Do defense spending cuts hurt the alliance?
Reductions don’t always mean a reduction in capability. Sometimes cuts actually mean an improvement in capabilities. If there are cuts, for instance, to a standing home guard with limited mobility in favor of an expanded force that has greater mobility, that’s a net gain—especially when there are additions made to a force’s expeditionary or communications capabilities. But, in this environment, the biggest challenge for the alliance is to handle this economic crisis in a way that generates more military cooperation and negates the perception, if not the reality, of budget cuts that leave the alliance militarily emasculated. What’s the background to the upcoming Lisbon summit? The summit is a big public relations event, especially since the last summit was not a historic high point. At the 60th anniversary summit in Strasbourg, France, in 2009, many alliance members were welcoming the end of the Bush administration era, and the Obama administration officials felt that they could just sw
