let's bring in our panel, steve hayes, elise veback, and jason riley. think in. >> first of all, i think this is by design. obama purposely picked a republican defense secretary to give him political cover when he went about reducing the size of the military. chuck hagel was willing to play the role of the useful idiot, and this is what we're seeing. this is by design. the real question substantively is does anyone think the world is a safer place today than when obama took office? things are going backwards in russia, syria, iraq, iran, venezuela, and this is the time we choose to shrink our military? in an environment the defense secretary himself says is challenging, unprecedented in the world. it doesn't make a lot of sense. >> it's sure to trigger battles on capitol hill, but as you say, it's very unlikely to shrink the military would last long. we would end up expanding it once again, shortly. the interesting part to me was the way the proposal chose to cut certain benefits for military families and retirees. i think both parties on capitol hill a