At this event, we will discuss the Obama administration's FY 2013 defense budget and the broader context behind its new strategic guidance.

The average American would believe that the nation's need for substantial nuclear fuel, oil, natural gas, and coal will soon be a distant memory, based on the Obama administration's strident emphasis on developing "alternative" energy sources. The reality, however, is quite different.

When President Obama unveiled his new strategic guidance in January, highlighted by a pivot to Asia, many assumed (incorrectly) that the Navy and Air Force would reap the benefits. But if the president's own 2013 defense budget request did not make it clear to policymakers already, the release of the Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan confirms this is a pivot in name only.

Under current law, the U.S. Department of Defense automatically faces significant spending cuts over the next 10 years—cuts that america's civilian and military leaders have cadidly described as "devastating" and "very high risk."

At this AEI event, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan will deliver remarks on the nation's fiscal and economic challenges.

The risks of debilitating cuts to our national-security budget will be a critical issue for Congress when it reconvenes after the August recess. While the media focus as Congress adjourned earlier this month was on the big-picture implications of the legislation lifting the federal debt-ceiling, we cannot lose sight of the difficult--and imminent--struggles just ahead in September.

Here's what success in Iraq looks like: democratic elections, sectarian comity, independence in foreign policy, al Qaeda stymied, cooperating with the United States, and self sufficiency. Iraq didn't look completely like that in early 2011, but it was headed in the right direction.

Either the Navy is retiring these ships too early or its lifecycle estimates are hopelessly optimistic. But service leaders cannot have it both ways. Similarly, the administration cannot realistically “pivot” to Asia—a region defined by the “tyranny of distance”—and cut the fleet at the same time.