The Rand Corporation is a non-profit company. More precisely, Rand is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) and it is sponsored primarily by the U.S. Government. In short, Rand is a “Think Tank” for the Beltway and Big Government.
Their recent report, “Commission on the National Defense Strategy” was a bit rattling, but at the same time, presented recycled traditional military-industrial complex themes that are bandied about by the elite on a regular basis to perpetuate, not solve problems.
One can never be too honest, and this Rand Report at least shares the bad news upfront. The national defense establishment of Kamala Harris receives a failing grade.
The simple takeaway: The U.S. Military and national defense infrastructure is a mess and under duress from the Chinese led movement to topple America. To most readers of this article, the response would be, “Please, tell us something we don’t already know.”
The report calls the alarm but is a bit weak on the real causal factors. Your tax dollars paid for this report, so it is a report we should read and understand regardless. It is chock full of coded messages from the “experts” who have worked these issues for years without success. In the private sector, personalities with this track record are shown the door.
Not a single reference to Wokeness, CRT, or DEI
On P.59 of the report, Personnel and Readiness is addressed. The uniformed portion of the U.S. Military is facing historic recruiting and retention shortfalls. The very small Space Force (roughly 9,400) and the Marine Corps (roughly 177,000) appear to have met recruiting and retention goals.
But the much larger Army, Air Force, and Marines are struggling, even with reducing their size to make it look like they are closer to meeting their goals. The report identified that only 23% of Americans meet the current requirements of Military Service – but the report fails to drill down further to find out why. Drilling down would expose the corrupt education system and social norms brainwashing the physical, mental, and moral foundations of our children
One thing the “experts” could not bring themselves to utter in the report is the “W” word which stands for Wokeness. There was not a single reference in the report to the Woke adjuncts of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), or the book, “Antiracist Baby” (I threw in that last one just to pile on). There were some lame narratives on causal factors for recruiting and retention, without many supporting citations, such as, “Even more concerning is the lack of interest in military service for qualified individuals, which has been exacerbated by public narratives related to the dangers of military service.”
What public narratives? The ones pushed by TikTok or legacy media? This section had a drumbeat in the background: A return of the draft is necessary.
It is easier to say where we don’t have gaps with China
China was correctly identified as the lead, “pacing threat”. China was also identified as part of the “No-Limits” partnership to topple America, but the report still gave Putin equal billing with Xi when at this time Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela (Venezuela was not mentioned a single time in the report) are de-facto colonies of China.
Venezuela, right in America’s front yard, is at the point of Civil War and Maduro, the Venezuelan leader only started going after next door Guyana after his September 2023 trip to Beijing which was clearly him being summoned to report on his contribution to the Chinese effort to cause mayhem in the Americas.
The report was replete with examples of America falling behind in the Military Instrument of National Power, I’m not sure a single American advantage was presented. This was the Captain Obvious part of the report – something that readers of The Gateway Pundit have been pointing out ever since the Harris Team came on board in 2021.
There was a strong call for using all Instruments of National Power Diplomatic, Information, Economic, Finance, Intelligence, and Law Enforcement (DIMEFIL) to assert American interests, in addition to the Military. DIMEFIL is a fancy way of telling the non-DOD parts of the Federal Government to do their job. DIMEFIL is not law and is utterly rejected by the non-DOD U.S. Government.
A noble effort, but Rand, at best, calls out symptoms not causes
The report essentially gives Kamala a failing grade for her tenure.
There were a number of predictable narratives recycled in the document. A repeated, tired, and lazy criticism of Taiwan occurs with the “Prickly” versus “Prestige” debate talking point. Many elites have criticized Taiwan for trying to buy tanks and ships to defend itself. They should only be buying drones and missiles Taiwan is lectured. Both types of weapons are important in deterring and if necessary, defeating China. Taiwan has greatly increased defense spending (but can do even more) which mathematically addresses the $ balance between Prickly and Prestige weapons, but the report writers have not done the math nor addressed that fact that many Taiwanese orders, already paid for by Taiwan, have been diverted to other conflicts.
The key causes of success in building defense capability are the clarity and resolve of the incumbent administration in communicating U.S. policy and position. The feeble nature of the key personalities of the Harris Administration are not referenced in the report directed by the Harris Administration. An interesting report, but it misses the target of true causal factors and instead, recycles the established narratives of the status quo, elite “experts”. Rand gets a re-do for this deliverable, at their own cost.
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