Justice for bin Laden

Americans justly welcomed the news that Osama bin Laden has been dealt with in the manner which he deserved. This hard-won victory has taken almost a decade to achieve. Great respect and appreciation are due to the U.S. military, our intelligence services and those who assisted them in this ten- year effort.

While this is a significant U.S. victory in the War on Terror, it does not signal the end of the struggle against al Qaeda and its allied terrorist organizations around the world. In fact, al Qaeda has already released a statement pledging retaliation. We and our allies have much work to do in hunting down other terrorists, ensuring that no area of the globe provides them a safe haven and bolstering the ability of our friends to deal with such threats.

Just days before bin Laden was brought to justice, media accounts suggested the Defense Department was already beginning to undergo a shift in focus. In reporting on President Obama's nominee to replace the retiring Robert Gates as secretary of Defense, the Washington Post stated, "Obama's choice of expert budget-cutter Leon Panetta to lead the Defense Department is a clear signal that the White House perceives the nation's deficit crisis, not the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as its toughest challenges."

Incoming Defense Secretary Panetta will be tasked with finding $400 billion in defense cuts, on top of the $178 billion already identified by Secretary Gates. This plan dramatically overestimates the level of spending reductions the military can undergo without compromising our defensive capabilities. Secretary Gates himself warned that the Defense Department has reached the "minimum level of defense spending that is necessary, given the security challenges we are facing around the globe " and that further reductions would be "risky at best and potentially calamitous."

Defense spending is already approaching historic lows, representing less than 20 percent of the federal budget and projected to fall to 15.6 percent by 2015 under President Obama’s budget proposal. According to the Heritage Foundation, OMB statistics indicate defense spending consumed 90 percent of the budget during World War II, 70 percent during the Korean War, 50 percent during Vietnam and 30 percent during the Cold War. With American forces fighting two wars and just committed to a third armed conflict in Libya, this is not the time to grow complacent and radically scale down our military.

The struggle to keep America safe is far from over. But every American can take pride and satisfaction in what our forces have accomplished. They have made America and the world safer. And they have delivered justice to an elusive and deadly mass murderer. As we recognize this important military achievement, we must resolve to maintain the resources that made it possible.