Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday said the absence of a proper military budget from Congress questions "whether or not America has the ability to survive."
Delivering the keynote address at the Air Force Association conference in Maryland, Mattis added that "nothing has done more damage to the readiness of our Armed Forces" than the lack of "budgetary predictability."
Mattis was outlining the "problem statement for the U.S. military."
"How do we maintain a nuclear deterrent and a decisive conventional force while maintaining irregular warfare as a core competency?"
It takes proper funding, Mattis said.
"Nothing has done more damage to the readiness of our Armed Forces than the continuing resolutions that stop us from taking initiative, than the lack of budgetary predictability," Mattis told the assembly.
"If we don't get budgetary predictability, if we don't remove the defense caps, then we're questioning whether or not America has the ability to survive. It's that simple," Mattis said.
"If we fail to advance at the speed of relevance, then our forces — military forces, our Air Force — will lose the very technical and tactical advantage we've enjoyed since World War II," Mattis said.
Mattis said it's especially critical given that outer space and cyber space are both "now contested" for the first time in history.
"We have no God-given right to victory on the battlefield. In that regard, make no mistake that our adversaries are making concentrated efforts to erode our competitive edge. You know it, I know it, we can see it in the world around us," Mattis said.
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