“None of these reforms will be easy, painless, or popular. But they are absolutely essential to maintaining a strong national defense over the long term. These smart and responsible initiatives should be undertaken by Pentagon and Congressional leaders regardless of the level of defense spending. While these reforms are necessary, they are not of themselves sufficient to meet the fiscal and strategic challenges the military currently faces.”
The unprecedented collaboration shown in this letter (and obviously the analysis that went behind it) should be an opening salvo in bipartisan communication on issues. The DoD is just one of the major government services desperately hurtling towards budgetary trouble. The think tanks should similarly tackle Social Security and Medicare, programs that are on their way to becoming insolvent.
Of course that is wishful thinking, since social programs are the foundation of policy divergence in American politics. Nonetheless, the consortium of these think tank luminaries is laudable.
It would be conjecture to estimate what kind of impact this letter will have but this is an ideal example of what policy work should be — analyzing issues and coming up with multi-faceted solutions.