Defense Needs To Be Part of Budget Debate
By Winthrop Quigley
Journal Staff Writer

The United States spends more on its military than the defense budgets of the next 17 biggest spending nations combined. China, the second biggest military spender in the world, has a military budget of $98.8 billion. Russia, our traditional rival, has budgeted $61 billion.
        The American military owns, leases or otherwise controls acreage approximately equal to that of the state of New York. It has 539,000 buildings and other structures located at 4,700 sites in every state in the country, plus Washington, D.C., 121 sites in American territories and 716 sites in 38 other countries.

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