The Washington Post, in a March 16 story, presented this gem of a quote from Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs: “Our spending today [on health care for the active, retired, and reserve US military] is greater than the entire Ministry of Defense budget in Germany.” The figure to which he refers is $38 billion. What, exactly, is the comparison supposed to signify? One could also say—because it’s true—that the Pentagon health care budget is only one third the amount Americans spend each year on booze ($116 billion). The question is: So what
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…