That's the question I asked the other day on NPR's "Morning Edition." Want to know my response? Very well then, here's the transcript. (And, in case it is confusing, yes I also did an interview with the same outfit about my new book.)

More thoughts on the subject: I don't understand Governor Romney's insistence that we need to move to spending 4 percent of GDP on defense.  I mean, at the height of the British Empire, the British spending on defense was between 2 and 3 percent of national income. Nor was the size of the Royal Navy key to maintaining the Empire: It went from about 80 ready ships of the line in 1817 to 58 in 1835, Paul Kennedy tells us in his wonderful Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery.