On Thursday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced his support for scaling down the number of troops in the Middle East, but stopped short of calling for a total withdrawal. He stated that he would not want any more than "1,500 to 2,000" ground troops, believing that "we need special ops capacity to coordinate with our allies." However, as Steve Beynon of Stars and Stripes writes:
"Despite the ongoing operations abroad, the pandemic at home, and increased government spending, Biden does not foresee major cuts to the Pentagon budget.
"In fact, he said defense spending could increase in a Biden Administration.
"'I don’t think [budget cuts] are inevitable, but we need priorities in the budget,' Biden said.
"Republicans have long accused the Democrats of hollowing out the military through Obama era spending cuts, due in part to a bipartisan system of mandatory budget cuts known as 'sequestration.'
"'Rebuilding the military' through spending increases has been hailed by the Republicans as a major achievement of the Trump Administration.
"Biden said, however, that the Defense Department desperately needs to innovate in emerging technology such as beefing up its cyberwarfare capabilities and unmanned aircraft.
"'We have to focus more on unmanned capacity, cyber and IT, in a very modern world that is changing rapidly,' Biden said. 'I’ve met with a number of my advisors and some have suggested in certain areas the budget is going to have to be increased.'
"Should he become commander in chief, Biden said he would press for an inclusive military able to maintain its dominant position as the world’s most powerful force."
The former vice president has taken several donations from executives for top defense contactors. His two largest donors are Pamela Wickham, the former communications vice president for Raytheon (prior to the company's merging with United Technologies earlier this year), who has contributed a total of $15,050 to both Biden's campaign and the Biden Victory Fund, and Lon Levin, CEO and president of GEOshare (a Lockheed Martin subsidiary), from whom Biden and his victory fund have collectively taken $6,740.25. Other donations to Biden in this field include $2,800 each from Michael Cassel, director of Boeing's Global Corporate Citizenship team, and Vivek Lall, a vice president for Lockheed Martin, as well as $2,900 from Joe Rice, Lockheed Martin's director of government relations.
On Thursday, Biden also outlined his plans to provide the National Guard with newer equipment, revoke President Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military, and rebuilding, in Beynon's words, "America’s strained relationship with NATO."
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