BREAKING : Trump Signs Executive Order That Promises “Great Rebuilding of the Armed Forces”
President Trump just signed an executive order to launch a “great rebuilding of the Armed Forces.”
Overall this order is set to completely overhaul and rebuild our military!
From The Washington Post
President Trump signed an executive order Friday to launch what he called a “great rebuilding of the Armed Forces” that is expected to include new ships and planes, additional Special Operations forces and the modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal while cutting projects that are not considered the “highest priority operations.”
Trump, making his first visit to the Pentagon since his Jan. 20 inauguration, said the order was signed “to ensure the sacrifices of our military are supported by the actions of our government.” The final version was not immediately available, but a draft obtained by The Washington Post and published Friday morning called for new Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to carry out a 30-day “readiness review” that will examine needs for the war against the Islamic State and “other forms of Islamic terror,” as well as training, maintenance, ammunition and infrastructure. The review, the draft said, also will examine how to carry out operations against unnamed “near-peer competitors,” a group which U.S. officials typically identify as China and Russia.
The draft order also calls for a second, parallel review in which the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) combine to craft a “military readiness emergency budget amendment” that would boost military spending this year, and for Mattis to revise the Pentagon’s tentative budget proposal for 2018 within 90 days.
Mattis also is charged with creating a new national security strategy by next January that explicitly builds up the military. Special emphasis would be placed on modernizing nuclear weapons, strengthening missile defense, addressing delays in the maintenance of existing equipment, and overcoming “shortfalls” in areas where more people are needed, such as cyber warfare, personnel recovery and expeditionary naval forces, the order said.
[Placing Russia first among threats, Mattis warns of Kremlin attempts to ‘break’ NATO]
The document offers no details on which programs may be cut.
The draft circulated Friday as President Trump indicated during remarks at the White House that he will allow Mattis, who retired as a Marine general in 2013, to “override” him on whether the United States tortures terrorism suspects. Trump has said he believes torture works, while Mattis believes interrogations should be carried out according to U.S. military guidelines, which specifically ban harsh techniques such as waterboarding.
“He’s an expert. He’s highly respected. I happen to feel that it does work,” Trump said, without mentioning that Congress banned torture in 2005. “I’ve been open about that for a long period of time. But I am going with our leaders.”
Later, at the Pentagon, Trump said he was proud of his executive order calling for the expansion of the military. He promised to U.S. troops present that his administration “will always have your back.”
Administration officials declined to discuss the draft order on military growth, which states that Trump will pursue “Peace Through Strength,” a campaign catchphrase. The order addresses a number of concerns that senior military officials have expressed for years about “military readiness,” the ability of a unit to carry out operations. The training and equipping of some units was significantly altered by the congressionally mandated budget cuts known as sequestration that went into effect in 2013, military officials have said.
U.S. defense officials have advocated for a larger military since the election, with the Navy publishing a study that states it should add dozens of ships until its fleet reaches 355, senior Air Force and Army leaders calling for tens of thousands of additional personnel, and senior Marine officers saying that more personnel would be helpful, but should be devoted to filling specific needs against a near-peer enemy.
Support the Trump Presidency and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.
