A prestigious defense review panel has warned that the U.S. government must "sound an alarm" to build public support among the American people for increased defense spending.

"We saw a train wreck coming when we looked at the growth of the threats around the world," said panel member Eric Edelman, a former ambassador to Turkey and Finland and a former undersecretary of defense for policy.

"There's this huge disconnect between where we see the world going with the U.S. military and what our policy is," said panelist Michele Flournoy, another former undersecretary of defense for policy.

The National Defense Panel was created in 1997 to serve as a review board for the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review, which analyzes threats to U.S. security as well as general strategic plans to improve military capabilities. The last QDR was released in 2010.

The NDP's 10 members are hand-picked by the defense secretary and Congress, with Democrats and Republicans equally represented. The panel met Wednesday at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

The environment of international security is changing, the review panel said, with the Islamic State group, Russia, China, Iran and a deadly disease — Ebola — all raising concerns. At the same time, the U.S. expects to remove the majority of its forces from Afghanistan by the end of this year.

The panel said there is a gap between the set of troubling realities facing the U.S. and how the government is managing the defense budget, a concern echoed by Pentagon leaders.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in June that DoD is taking a $75 billion hit in its budget this year and next, and he warned lawmakers that "we cannot keep our current force structure adequately ready and modernized" under the strict budget limits being imposed through sequestration.

Unless Congress changes the law to prevent another budget sequester, Hagel added, an additional $50 billion will come out of the department's budget every year through 2021.

On Wednesday, Edelman cited a 2010 statement by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates in which Gates cited a need for 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent growth in the defense budget over time to recapitalize the force.

The NDP noted that the Pentagon is in a state of financial uncertainty that is affecting readiness — and any slowdown in defense funding, with the Pentagon living under the threat of budget sequestration, would only further complicate future planning.

Flournoy flatly stated that the U.S. should not expect the military to be able to defend the nation at the highest level of readiness under sequestration.

"Risks from sequestration are cumulative," Flournoy said.

"That can translate into not having the number of forces that can respond on the kinds of timelines that are needed for various contingencies," Edelman said.

The NDP supports investing more in defense over the long term, particularly in shoring up readiness and investing more in technology. "We need the military establishment to have global reach and do many things at the same time," said Edelman.

The panel members agreed on a need for national-level debate on the issue, focusing on exactly what the nation wants its military to do and whether that's possible under current policy and spending trend lines. They also said the lame-duck session of Congress next month is the perfect venue to begin these debates.

"Up until this year, foreign affairs and national security were low on the public's radar. Now it is high," said Edelman. "This is the time to have the debate."

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