More Beep For Our Buck

(Cartoon by Dana Summers (3/4/14) and found at Tribune Content Agency.  Click on image to enlarge.)

On March 3, 2014, I examined one facet of the Pentagon Budget which hadn't been trimmed.  Yesterday, I found another one, one that is perhaps even more surprising.

From the Los Angeles Times:

As the Pentagon moves beyond the relatively low-tech wars in the Middle East and turns its attention to future national security challenges, it has doubled down on sophisticated new radar-jamming devices that aim to render adversaries' air defenses useless.

Although the U.S. faced limited resistance in the skies above Iraq and Afghanistan, that would not be the case in Asia, where the Obama administration plans to shift its diplomatic focus and strengthen its defense strategy in the coming decade.

China and North Korea, for example, have quietly invested in advanced sophisticated radar systems, surface-to-air missile batteries, and power-projection capabilities.

So when the Pentagon revealed its fiscal 2015 budget proposal last week, much of the attention was given to a boost in spending on drones and cybersecurity. Less heralded, but vital to U.S. strategic success, experts say, was the high-dollar investment in radar-jamming technology and other electronic warfare.  [Emphasis added.]

Interesting,  yes?

We can afford fancy electronic jamming equipment so we can fly over countries which don't want us flying over, but we can't afford extended unemployment insurance, investments to replace or repair aging  infrastructure, Medicare expansion, school lunch programs.

I guess human security isn't as important as "national" security.  Or something.