Thomas Spoehr

Stories by Thomas Spoehr

The incredible shrinking Army: NDAA end strength levels are a mistake

The incredible shrinking Army: NDAA end strength levels are a mistake
The incredible shrinking Army: NDAA end strength levels are a mistake

“Cutting Army end strength to only 452,000 soldiers locks in the service’s worst projections for recruiting, forestalling any possibility to achieve greater-than-predicted success,” writes Thomas Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation.

For the best NDAA, what to take from the House and Senate

For the best NDAA, what to take from the House and Senate
For the best NDAA, what to take from the House and Senate

The Heritage Foundation’s Thomas Spoehr has seven tips for lawmakers as they consider how to shape the final NDAA.

Biden Must Boost 2022 Budget To Counter China

Biden Must Boost 2022 Budget To Counter China
Biden Must Boost 2022 Budget To Counter China

The Army and Air Force are locked in battle over missions and the dollars that go with them. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs — an Army guy — has predicted a “bloodletting” with the Army the likely loser as the country grapples with how to manage the growing rivalries with China and Russia. Stopping…

Hits & Misses In Biden’s Interim National Security Guidance

Hits & Misses In Biden’s Interim National Security Guidance
Hits & Misses In Biden’s Interim National Security Guidance

“Seemingly gone is the naivety of the Obama era” about Russia and China, writes the Heritage Foundation’s Tom Spoehr in this op-ed. But the retired three-star general still sees some worrying woolly-mindedness.

Don’t Cut The Army In 2021

Don’t Cut The Army In 2021
Don’t Cut The Army In 2021

The post-COVID budget crunch – and the need to grow seapower and airpower for a Pacific contest with China – make it all too tempting to cut the Army. But that would be a grave mistake, warns retired three-star general Tom Spoehr.

Project Convergence: Its Success Could Draw Army Astray

Project Convergence: Its Success Could Draw Army Astray
Project Convergence: Its Success Could Draw Army Astray

While Project Convergence’s first big test, the Army’s “experiment at scale for a combined arms operations,” was deemed a great success, the service must resist the urge to scale-up so rapidly that the events lose their value as experiments or become a fat target for budget cutters. The convergence tests, linking weapons, sensors, systems and…

Heritage To Congress: Pass A Defense Appropriations Bill

Heritage To Congress: Pass A Defense Appropriations Bill
Heritage To Congress: Pass A Defense Appropriations Bill

Congress must pass key defense spending bills to preserve our national security. Lawmakers should pursue legislative process reforms to ensure the defense budget is consistently passed close to the start of the fiscal year.