"Powerful armed forces are necessary for U.S. national security, but they should be tailored to counter the threats and vulnerabilities the country actually faces, not to satisfy hubristic ambitions of remaking the world," writes Richard K. Betts, Director of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University, in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs.

The budget request for DOD operations in FY 2008 is $505 billion, with the supplemental $142 billion requested for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, that adds up to a defense budget of $647 billion--almost...