GSI Forum: Murray Weidenbaum, Washington University "The Changing Economics of Conflict"

The United States presently faces a war on terrorism likely to continue for years, major troop deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan with uncertain end dates, and an ever-rising national debt.  Can we afford this defense posture?  MURRAY WEIDENBAUM, eminent economist and CSIS trustee, answers with a definite 'yes.'  At a recent CSIS Global Strategy Institute forum, Weidenbaum set present levels of military spending in historical perspective and offered his finding that current funding is well below past peaks by any measure.  However, he added an important caveat: the fact that we can sustain this level of spending doesn’t imply that we should.