Trump's buildup: Easier said than done.

• Author: McKinley, Craig R.
• Position: President's Perspective

Like millions of Americans across at least three generations, I have enjoyed Star Wars and the enterprise it spawned following its 1977 debut.

One of my favorite moments occurs in the original episode when Han Solo, trying to get his balky Millennium Falcon spacecraft to jump to light speed, advises the younger Luke Skywalker that, "Flying through hyper-space ain't like dusting crops, boy!" I've always thought this was a humorous line that finds metaphorical expressions in many walks of life, including when political leaders attempt to make the jump from the passions and assertions of campaigns to the troubling detail of actually governing. This is where we find ourselves today.

In the September and October columns, I argued that we face two major challenges in U.S. defense programs going forward. The first is simply addressing the existent and emerging defense needs in a way that makes military forces more ready--in the near term--and more capable in the longer term. The military services know very well what those needs are, and articulate them routinely to senior leaders in the Pentagon with the future year defense program, and to congressional leaders when they explain their annual budget submissions. Identifying military requirements and translating them into budget requests--although admittedly an imperfect exercise--is still a fundamental function that the Defense Department addresses better than any other agency.

Which leads to the second challenge: getting budget submissions translated into congressional appropriations. It is in this area that we face an enormous problem. Although Congress has crafted a logical and sequential budget preparation process that is normally called "regular order," the truth is that this process is rarely followed. In addition, it has now been further distorted by the spending limitations placed on discretionary spending by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the "sequestration" of funds that have resulted from it. In short, sequestration has limited funding below the levels required by our strategic aspirations and operational demands.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump frequently stated that he was going to spend more on defense and "restore our depleted military." He articulated a defense program requiring more soldiers, more Marines, more aircraft, more ships and a modernized nuclear deterrent force. Now the rub: how does one get the funding to pay for it?

The Trump...