Congress left our embassies exposed

Salon explores how tax policy decisions contributed to under-protected U.S. embassies:

Among the worst trends in U.S. foreign-policy making in recent decades is the decline of the State Department and the corresponding rise of the Defense Department. State is responsible for American diplomacy — the hard work of negotiating and maintaining relations with other countries; Defense (formerly the Department of War, a more honest designation) looks after war-making and protecting national security. Few things reflect America’s skewed foreign-policy priorities more than the funding discrepancies between the two departments. Consider the numbers:

• ...The State Department’s funding request for 2013 was $51.6 billion, $300 million less than 2012, because, it said, “this is a time of fiscal restraint.”

• The Pentagon’s 2012 budget? $614 billion. Mitt Romney promises to increase defense spending dramatically.

More discussion at the link.