Defense spending

Growing Debt Threatens US National Security: Defense Leaders

U.S. national security and the country’s status as a global military leader will be imperiled unless the Defense Department and Congress enact as series of fiscal and internal reforms, according to a bipartisan group of former defense leaders.

The federal debt is projected to climb to 131 percent of the nation's GDP over the next 25 years and that “impairs our ability to lead,” retired Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday during the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s 2016 Fiscal Summit in Washington. (The Fiscal Times owned and funded by Peter G. Peterson.)

Related: Half a Trillion for the Pentagon? Why Defense Spending Is Only Going Higher

The group – whose members includes former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger and former Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta – issued a statement on Tuesday calling for “fiscal security” and suggesting a series of policy fixes to rein in the debt.