In my inbox yesterday, a pitch for covering an American Enterprise Institute gig today in which Thomas Donnelly will make the case for directing part of the bailout to the defense industry.

I thought you might be interested in tomorrow’s State of the Union preview at AEI, which will include a briefing by resident fellow Thomas Donnelly on the need to set aside a portion of the stimulus package for defense. Mr. Donnelly will outline his plan for a defense stimulus tomorrow Tuesday, January 13, 2009. The foreign and defense policy panel discussion will be from 1:00 to 2:15 p.m.

http://www.aei.org/event1864

Among Donnelly’s key points:

Defense investments will create thousands of American jobs across the 50 states, preserve jobs at risk from premature program terminations, promote American exports and create a secure environment for global economic recovery.

Defense will be key to any stimulus package: The security of worldwide commerce depends upon safe, cheap and uninterrupted flows of goods and service through a variety of “commons” – the seas, air, space and cyberspace – that are protected every day by U.S. military forces.

The gap in military spending of the past 15 years – more than $150 billion in deferred projects in the 1990s alone – has created a “defense deficit” that has resulted in a wholesale obsolescence in front-line systems: U.S. troops are still fighting with planes, ships and land combat vehicles designed in the late 1970s and purchased during the Reagan buildup.

There is a strong correlation between defense spending and past recoveries.

Defense manufacturing is among the most competitive elements in the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Defense programs more than meet the “shovel ready” threshold set for infrastructure projects in the stimulus package.