Mark Thompson, now with Time magazine, has been writing about national security (smart and not) for thirty years.  In this article he states that our gigantic outlays for "defense" are just about a total waste of money.  Nobody wants to talk about it because the military-industrial complex is making money off it, and every military cost center is embedded in somebody's congressional district.  Now our domestic economy is in tatters, our infrastructure is third-world, our debt is beyond comprehension. and we keep on building aircraft carriers and supersonic jets and $2 billion submarines for use against an enemy that lives in caves.  Eisenhower warned us.  Well worth reading.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2065108-3,00.html