Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP file photo
Cutting jobs. Closing bases. Reducing health care benefits for service members. On a list of policies to reform defense spending, these would rank near the top in their potential to rub the American public the wrong way. But the hard truth, says former undersecretary of defense Michèle Flournoy, is that these measures could help the U.S. military get back on track toward being the most effective in the world in the long run. Referring to a recent open letter to Secretary Hagel from a coalition of think tanks leaders across the partisan spectrum, Flournoy argued at the Aspen Ideas Fesitval on Wednesday that these kinds of cuts would help the military maintain maximal power and the ability to adapt in the future.