Barack Obama’s presidency has had profoundly negative consequences for our national security. From debilitating cuts in defense budgets, to gutting national missile defense efforts, to his unwillingness to acknowledge a continuing war against terrorism, to his inability to stem the nuclear proliferation threats posed by North Korea and Iran....the picture is bleak.

As the Pentagon unveils its new budget numbers today, you might be interested in what AEI expert Thomas (Tom) Donnelly recently wrote about the administration's defense strategy (full text here):

At the event, panelists discussed India's military modernization and the implications on U.S. economy and security.

This might be a last opportunity to formulate a larger strategy for dealing with Iran, and for defining what would really constitute success. The United States is, indeed, in a low-level war with Iran, and no one particularly wants to see it get bigger. On the other hand, wars have a logic of their own.

At a time when many NATO countries, including the United States, are drawing down their forces, Georgia has just added another infantry battalion. This brings the total number of Georgians deployed to Afghanistan to nearly 1,700. Georgia has now surpassed Australia as the largest non-NATO contributor of troops to the coalition’s campaign.

A fundamental question for those Republicans campaigning to replace Barack Obama as commander-in-chief and, as Harry Truman might have put it, as “leader of the free world,” is how they intend to restore American greatness in a troubled time.

This month, Obama administration officials revealed plans to dramatically reduce embassy staff in Baghdad, the largest U.S. diplomatic mission abroad. Along with the announcement in December of the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq — the message President Obama is sending is clear: The sooner we put Iraq...

The Obama administration's willingness to jettison hard fought gains in Iraq, and abandon opportunities to project power toward Iran and the Gulf can only be viewed as another step toward relinquishing U.S. global leadership.