The nation is not prepared to meet new requirements now emerging, especially in space and information warfare. The Air Force Association believes it is imperative to provide more adequately for all of the military services, but especially for the aerospace forces upon which the nation has become so reliant for global vigilance, global reach, and global power. Global vigilance includes not only intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance by airborne and spaceborne sensors but also all of the other aerospace forces, from ICBM sites to the no-fly zones, on alert and on guard, at home and abroad, every day of the year. Global power is the capability to operate from regional bases overseas or to fly or strike directly from the United States on missions that range from humanitarian aid to power projection and crisis response. The defense budget does not cover today's needs, and it does not begin to address long-term requirements.
Defense is the only major category of federal spending to decline in recent years.
There is obviously a limit to what budgets can cover and it is necessary to set priorities. It is a mistake, however, to get the process backwards. Unfortunately, it has become customary to set an arbitrary budget level, and if requirements do not fit within it, then it is the requirements that change, not the budget level. The nation can and should allocate 4.0 percent of GDP for national defense. Missions and Strategies.