Dear Dr. Boli: Why does the United States spend more on defense than China, India, the UK, Russia, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea put together? It seems a little excessive to me. —Sincerely, Lloyd J. Austin III.

Dear Sir: It is a general rule among nations that one should spend at least as much on defense as one’s enemies do. Since the ambition of the United States is to make enemies of the entire world, it follows that the defense budget must correspond to that ambition.