Is the current budget and debt of the United States a concern to its national defense? Does debt held by foreign nations, particularly China, give them soft power over the United States? The current national deficit is more than $1.3 trillion dollars each year with the national public debt just over $16 trillion. Congress and the greater civilian population are calling for dramatic cuts to the Department of Defense in order to balance the budget-but the issue is more complicated. Accounting for only 3.7 percent of the FY2012 budget, reducing the DoD will reduce capabilities within the military but only reduce the deficit by a mere $50 billion a year-less than five percent of the overall deficit.