Eli5: Why is it that whenever we hear about “defense spending” it’s always on offensive things like weapons? Is there not a way to make actual defense the priority instead of offense?

Question

I could be missing the point about military spending, and the five-year-old in my head asking the question does just want forcefields over every country in the end.

In: Technology

Answer 1

It’s just semantics. It sounds less aggressive if it’s called defense spending. Offensive wars are generally frowned upon by international law (such as it is), plus, many more people are likely to support military spending when you say it’s for defense (after all, who doesn’t want to feel safe and protected?), so it’s largely a public relations thing.

On a more practical note though, there’s a fair amount of overlap between offensive and defensive weapons. The very same gun used to slaughter innocent people in cold blood (an offensive act) can be used to kill the person doing the slaughtering (a defensive act). It’s enough of a grey area that people can argue cruise missiles are defensive weapons (although whether or not you buy that is up to you).