ANALYSIS: TRUE. To Be a Peacemaker and Peacekeeper, Trump Must Build Up the Navy.

Maintaining a strong Navy used to be taken for granted; it was obvious to everyone from Main Street to the White House that not only was it the right thing to do, but it also was in the nation’s economic and security self-interest. At the end of the Cold War, however, the notion of the Navy as a global peacekeeping and peacemaking force collapsed along with the Berlin Wall.

This is not an issue of simply picking up where the Cold War left off. The Navy today has shrunk to perilous levels, and the broad national and human infrastructure required to maintain it—a Constitutional requirement—has atrophied to a dangerous degree. To make matters worse, we seem to have forgotten how to dig ourselves out of the deep hole we have created.

In reality, rebuilding the Navy is a relatively straightforward task. It starts with recruiting, training, and putting to work the men and women necessary to build and maintain the fleet. This will be a job for industry, government, and schools at every level. The effort and expense should fit nicely with the emerging public and political determination to re-energize the country and its place in the world. After all, the Navy and its shore establishment are critical national infrastructure and contribute greatly to both U.S. economic and industrial vitality.

But straightforward doesn’t mean easy.

Or cheap. But a strong navy pays for itself with peace and peaceful commerce.