Concern over the nation’s looming deficit has prompted a renewed focus on the need for spending cuts. Some in Washington would shield the Pentagon’s budget from scrutiny, but several newly elected members of Congress who have put deficit reduction at the top of their agenda have said that military spending cuts must be on the table. The costs associated with being the world’s policeman, they say, are simply too high. Cato research fellow Benjamin Friedman discussed the politics of achieving real reductions in federal outlays through real reductions in military spending November 19, 2010.