Military expert talks budget cuts

To U.S. military expert Col. William Hauser, the United States is no longer the world’s super power.

And at a speech in Graham Memorial Monday, Hauser said the belief that the U.S. is still a military superpower is antiquated and has lead to unnecessary spending.

“A lot of our politicians and a lot of our citizens are living in the past,” he said.

“We’ve got to accept a lesser role — if we don’t we’re going to come to grief.”

A student from UNC’s chapter of the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network opened the event by outlining his suggestions for cutting the defense budget, which Hauser responded to.

The speech ended with a Q&A session between Hauser and the event’s attendees.

The event was hosted by the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and UNC’s chapter of the Roosevelt Institute.

Laicie Olson, senior policy analyst for the Center for Arms Control, said its core focus is on nuclear weapons, but it also deals with U.S. Congress proceedings.

Olson said Hauser’s ability to speak frankly about issues regarding the U.S. defense budget made him a great candidate to speak to UNC students, especially since the center’s mission is intricately tied to those issues.

Senior Peace, War and Defense and Political Science major Ariana Rowberry, a member of the Roosevelt Institute, organized the event.

Rowberry said the Roosevelt Institute’s budget priorities campaign brings retired military officials to universities.

“There’s no part of the defense budget that I would expand — I’m sorry, I don’t have any favorites,” Hauser said.

Sophomore political science major Sarah Hallowell, who attended the event, said she thought Hauser’s remarks on bureaucracy in the Pentagon were most interesting.

“I absolutely agree that (the Pentagon) is way overstaffed and a lot of their workers are entering the retirement phase and not really contributing that much anymore to that workplace,” Hallowell said.

“I think it would be very worthwhile to make cuts in that realm.”

Senior History major Angel Johnston also attended the event and said Hauser’s belief about veterans’ benefits resonated most with her.

“I really do agree with the fact that he says, ‘Don’t touch veterans’ benefits,’ just because — he’s right — we put these guys through the worst thing ever and then they come home and we treat them like crap,” Johnston said.

Despite Hauser’s suggestions to reduce military spending, he said he still recognizes that it is an issue that cannot be solved easily.

“Defense budgeting is complicated, and there are no easy answers.”

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