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Americans can have effective armed forces without having to choose between guns and butter. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of rampant, massive waste at the Pentagon can see that.
President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to improve the military's effectiveness. Increasing the number of ships available to the Navy is one of his goals.
On Monday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., ripped the Navy for waste. McCain is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also was a Navy fighter pilot during the Vietnam War.
McCain's target is the Navy's littoral combat vessel program. The term "littoral" means ships intended to operate close to shore, perhaps in support of ground troops.
Twenty-six of the ships have been built, at a cost thus far of $12.4 billion. McCain, noting the vessels initially were supposed to cost $220 million each, added the price tag has more than doubled, to $478 million.
Performance is another concern. As McCain noted, the littoral ships were supposed to be able to cope with mines by 2008. Now, the timeframe is 2020.
McCain is no foe of military readiness. But, as he pointed out, the nation "simply cannot afford to waste our precious defense dollars on unnecessary or poorly performing programs."
As the senator knows, every branch of the armed forces has similar costly hardware disappointments. Before Trump can rebuild the military, he will have to attack and defeat the culture of waste and excuses.