Thomas Spoehr, Heritage Foundation

Thomas Spoehr

Heritage Foundation

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Past:
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Past articles by Thomas:

Remixed Defense Advisory Boards Reflect Partisan Shift

In early 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin fired all the members of 42 separate defense advisory boards and suspended operation of the panels until the Pentagon could do a “zero-based” review. → Read More

The Incredible Shrinking Army: NDAA End Strength Levels Are a Mistake

The compromise version of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act approved by the House Dec. 8, and by the Senate Dec. → Read More

Defense Bill Not Perfect, but Should Result in Stronger, More Effective U.S. Military

The purpose of a MCCRE is to formally evaluate the unit’s combat readiness in preparation for deployment. Having passed both chambers of Congress by wide margins, the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is now headed to the president. Though delayed through mis-prioritization of the legislative process, the final bill accomplishes its most important task: authorizing funding and… → Read More

For the Best NDAA, What To Take From the House and Senate

Now that the midterm elections are (mostly) over and Congress is reconvening, lawmakers will need to tend to the work they were supposed to have done before the fiscal year ended on Sept. 30. That includes funding the federal government and finalizing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). → Read More

Russia Threatens Commercial Satellites Providing Support to Ukraine

The Issue Russian officials have recently raised the possibility that Moscow might view commercial satellites that are providing support to Ukraine as legitimate targets for retaliatory strikes. Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy head of Russia’s delegation at a U.N. arms control panel, has said that the use of Western satellites to help Ukrainian forces on the battlefield is “an extremely dangerous… → Read More

American Fitness Has National Security Implications. It’s Time to Take It More Seriously.

Fiscal year 2023 is projected to be the most difficult year for military recruiting since the inception of the all-volunteer force in 1973. Every branch of the military is reporting extreme challenges in recruiting enough volunteers to fill their ranks. Not only are fewer people volunteering, but there are fewer eligible Americans to recruit as the prevalence of obesity grows and disqualifies an… → Read More

Army’s Misplaced Priorities: Recruitment Shortfall More Problematic Than Climate Change

The GDRP is a joint program in which U.S. Army advises, mentor and train Georgian personnel and commanders in order to improve combat readiness. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by , 382nd Public Affairs Detachment/ 1st ABCT, 1st CD/Released) The word “incongruous” immediately came to mind last week when two news headlines appeared at about the same time concerning the U.S. Army. → Read More

The Rise of Wokeness in the Military

The following is adapted from a talk delivered on July 20, 2022, at the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C. campus, as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series. → Read More

The Administration and Congress Must Act Now to Counter the Worsening Military Recruiting Crisis

U.S. military recruiting is having the worst year since the start of the all-volunteer force in 1973. The Army and other services are reporting historic challenges in achieving their recruiting goals. The Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, General Joseph Martin, is projecting that the Army will fall short of both its authorized end strength and its recruiting goals by tens of thousands of soldiers… → Read More

Army Is Falling Dangerously Short on Recruitment. Here’s What We Can Do About It.

The Army is falling far short of its 2022 target end strength, the maximum number of personnel permitted by Congress in each military service. A recent news report noted the Army will “fall about 10,000 soldiers short of its planned end strength for this fiscal year,” and has only achieved 50% of its recruiting goal of 60,000 soldiers with only two and a half months left in this fiscal year. → Read More

Foreign Policy: Strategy for a Post-Biden Era

The war in Ukraine and other recent events have shown us the true colors of China, Iran, and Russia. These are dangerous regimes that want a world without America. There are other challenges in the world, such as the nuclear-armed regime in North Korea and transnational terrorism, but China, Iran, and Russia are of particular concern because they are revisionist powers with the capability and… → Read More

Military Readiness Takes Back Seat to Wokeness at the Pentagon

Military readiness appears to have suffered yet another setback in the name of “equity.” Earlier this month, responding to a Virginia lawsuit, the Department of Defense amended its existing policy on service by personnel diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus. Under previous policy, military personnel who were diagnosed with HIV were barred from military deployments and other combat… → Read More

Tough Times for the Army on Its Birthday

June 14 marked the U.S. Army’s 247th birthday. Over these years, the Army has witnessed periods of both challenge and success. After World War I, the Army’s budget plummeted, and it teetered on the edge of irrelevance. Conversely, in the aftermath of Desert Storm’s 1991 victory over Iraq, it was praised for its incredible competence. Today, faced with harmful progressive agendas, budgets that… → Read More

The U.S. Army’s Untenable Trajectory: What Congress Should Do to Fix It

Despite claims the Army’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 President’s budget request “sustains the force on a strategic path,” the opposite is true.REF The $46 billion cumulative loss of buying power that the Army has endured since FY 2020 has taken a severe toll on nearly ever → Read More

Russia’s War on Ukraine: Four Lessons From the First 100 Days

Friday marks the 100th day of the war between Russia and Ukraine. When Russian tanks rolled across the border on Feb. 24, most anticipated a brief conflict, ending with either a Ukrainian surrender or some type of negotiated peace. Those assumptions proved false. Ukraine withstood the initial onslaught, and the war has now entered a bloody, protracted phase with no easily predictable end. These… → Read More

America’s Army: “Equitable” but Not Combat-Ready

Americans are used to picturing Army combat soldiers as incredibly tough individuals, able to run faster and do more pushups than most people. In today’s Army, though that notion is officially passé. At a recent Senate hearing, we learned that Army physical fitness has been sacrificed on the altar of gender equity, a move that former infantryman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., noted, will “get soldiers… → Read More

Military Recruiting Faces Its Biggest Challenge in Years

Since the transition to an all-volunteer force in 1973, there have been years when the military services missed their recruiting goals. These include 1999, 2005, and 2018 when either the economy was booming or casualties in a conflict were perceived high. → Read More

New Administration Policy Further Undermines Trust in Military Commanders

U.S. military leaders are held to an unforgiving standard: They are responsible for “everything their unit does—or fails to do.” When a unit fails—a ship runs aground, troops die due to improper training, a weapon is lost, or merely because a superior officer “loses confidence in their abilities”—commanders are relieved of their duties. → Read More

Military Recruiting Is Increasingly AWOL. Can We Fix It?

It’s national budget time in Washington, so the conversation on Capitol Hill is focused on numbers. But an important number is being overlooked, one that affects our ability to defend ourselves. At a time when threats abroad are growing, America’s ability to recruit the volunteers needed to fully staff its armed forces is on the wane. → Read More

Russia and the Pottery Barn Rule

“You break it, you own it.” This adage, a variation of the Pottery Barn Rule, was first coined by columnist Thomas L. Friedman in 2003. Friedman used it as an expression of foreign policy, suggesting that the launch of a military invasion comes with the responsibility of rebuilding a country. The adage now certainly applies to Russia in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. → Read More