A number of situations unfolding around the world could lead the United States into a conflict on any given day, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2023) A number of situations unfolding around the world could lead the United States into a conflict on any given day, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday.
"There are a number of things happening globally that indicate that we could be in a contest on any one given day," Austin said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Austin pointed to the conflict in Ukraine, competition with China in the Indo-Pacific and tensions with Iran in the middle East as complicating factors around the world for the US military.
This is one of the most "complex times" that the US military has seen lately, Austin said.
However, war with China and Russia is neither imminent nor inevitable, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley also said during the hearing.
The hearing focused on the Biden administration's fiscal year 2024 budget request for the Defense Department. The budget proposal requests $842 billion for defense, which will ensure the US meets its national security challenges in this "decisive decade," Austin said.
