The Case Against America’s Children: Why Protecting Their Health Should Be a Priority

A grave danger to national security is right before our eyes in the United States, and it does not take the form of a battlefield or a weapon fired from abroad. Instead, it is the worsening state of American children’s health and well-being, a peril that endangers our military strength, our economy, and our standing on the world stage.

The case is being made by Tina L. Cheng, M.D., M.P.H., James M. Perrin, M.D., and Gen. (Ret.) Stanley McChrystal in a new opinion piece titled “Opinion: Child health is the national security crisis we keep ignoring.”. The three authors — a pediatrician, a retired general, and a public health researcher — argue that today’s most pressing problems share a single underlying cause. That cause is children who are not growing up healthy, and the issues they point to include military readiness, workforce shortages, rising health care costs, and declining economic competitiveness.

The Recruitment Problem

The military’s recruitment crisis continues to deepen, and the numbers paint a grim picture. A recent 2020 study found that an astounding 77 percent of young Americans fail to meet the health standards required for enlistment. The data reflects a troubling decline in the physical fitness, medical readiness, and cognitive function of an entire generation of potential recruits.

In a first for recent history, three military branches failed to meet their recruitment targets during fiscal year 2023. The recovery since then — higher pay, pre-boot camp initiatives, and relaxed requirements — has provided some relief, yet it fails to solve the core problem. Those young individuals who are barred from serving are not merely missing from the ranks; they are also missing from the workforce, from the pipeline of innovation, and from the civic life of the nation.

A person’s path to military service is shaped long before they ever step foot into a recruiting station. The roots of the issue run back a decade or more, to the homes, schools, and neighborhoods where children spend their early years. Illness left untreated, poor nutrition, and mental health problems that go unattended all take hold during these formative periods. Those deficiencies do not vanish when childhood ends. Instead, they persist into adulthood, surfacing as limited education, weaker earning capacity, and a shorter lifespan. These same consequences also appear in the data the military collects on its recruits.

Deteriorating Health Among Children

The findings are supported by a study published last year in JAMA. It showed that children’s health declined sharply between 2007 and 2023. American children were 1.8 times more likely to die in the U.S. than in other industrialized countries. Four in 10 American kids will become adults carrying obesity, chronic illness, anxiety, depression, or other conditions that can curtail their opportunities and shorten their lives.

Health problems don’t stay inside the doctor’s office. They carry over into the classroom and the workplace. Kids who fight illness or mental health issues find it harder to succeed in school. Once they leave school, they find it harder to join the workforce and harder to give their full contribution to the economy. The end result is a cycle of reduced human capital that drags down the nation’s overall prosperity.

A study published in JAMA sounded an alarm about American children. It demonstrated that these young people are falling behind their global peers in health, at a cost measured in years of life lost and wasted human potential. The writers of the accompanying commentary heed that warning. They trace a direct connection between how children fare and what adults later produce, and they urge the country to regard this as something more than a social issue — they want it treated as a matter of national strategy.

Workforce Shortages and Economic Decline

The backbone of America’s prosperity rests on a healthy, capable workforce. We are seeing falling birth rates, which bring along a related slowdown in labor-force growth, at a time when employers demand more healthy, adaptable, and well-educated workers. When children endure preventable health issues, food insecurity, untreated mental health conditions, or obstacles to learning, it points toward trouble ahead. Those struggles turn into tomorrow’s workforce shortages, climbing health care costs, and wasted economic promise.

The health, productivity, and resilience of the nation depend on what happens in childhood, a fact that stands at the center of the opinion piece’s argument. It is also the core difficulty. A weakened generation of children cannot support a strong military, a dynamic economy, or a secure future for the country. National security does not start at the Pentagon; it starts in childhood.

The authors move beyond simply identifying the problem and present a course of action instead. Their involvement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s “Launching Lifelong Health” report outlines practical steps to improve children’s health, ties their work to current health concerns alongside their long-term effects, and demonstrates that these measures have already been put to the test. These steps cover making health care accessible, backing nutrition and healthy growth, funding research, reinforcing early childhood programs, and easing the financial pressures that can damage children’s health right from the start.

A Proven Path From a Previous Generation

History is offered as evidence that this strategy succeeds. During the 1960s, military leaders found that almost one-third of young men were disqualified from service due to conditions stemming from childhood poverty, inadequate health care, and insufficient educational opportunities. The country reacted with haste. Lawmakers increased funding for training initiatives and anti-poverty efforts, and reinforced Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment provision so all children could flourish without educational and health issues turning into lifelong burdens.

The generation before us grasped a plain fact: putting money into children extends far past sound public policy. It builds a nation’s strength instead. Today’s generation stands at a similar crossroads. The issue is not whether to put money into children. The issue is whether there is enough resolve to make child health a matter of national concern.

The Will to Act

The authors of the report are not seeking a blank check. What they are requesting is a change in how the country views children’s health. Instead of seeing it as a charitable duty, they would like the nation to regard child health as a strategic resource. They also want decision-makers to understand that the well-being of the next generation is closely linked to the nation’s capacity to compete in a world that is becoming more demanding.

The report itself is a product of two of the three authors’ leadership. Cheng is the B.K. Rachford professor and chair of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati and director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation. Perrin is professor of pediatrics emeritus at Harvard Medical School and the John C. Robinson distinguished chair in pediatrics at Mass General Brigham for Children. McChrystal is a former commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and founder of the McChrystal Group, where he advises global leaders on navigating complexity and building high-performing teams.

The three individuals involved each come from different fields, and that mix is significant. What they are addressing is not confined to medicine or to military affairs alone. Instead, it is a wide-ranging problem that affects every part of national life.

The Case for Action

A persuasive argument connects military readiness, economic competitiveness, health care costs, and workforce shortages into one story, making the case that child health is the national security crisis we keep overlooking. It points to a tested approach grounded in prior achievements. The appeal rests on asking the country to pledge itself to a future where children are healthy, educated, and prepared to make contributions.

The authors are seeking commitment to make child health a national priority. They are demanding urgent action. The piece serves as a reminder that the nation’s future rests on the health of its young people. It presses policymakers to stop considering child health as a secondary matter and instead regard it as a central national security concern. It calls on the nation to invest in its children now, rather than delay until the consequences of neglect become unavoidable.

The statistics are grim. The chronology is plain. A decision rests before the country. The writers have set forth their argument. The nation must now determine its own course.

Before, the country has met tests like these with resolve. The authors hold that it can do so once more. They hold that by investing in children today, the nation can build a stronger military, a more competitive economy, and a healthier future for all. The choice is plain. The way is clear. The will is the only unknown.

Source material: “Opinion: Child health is the national security crisis we keep ignoring,” STAT.

child health · economic competitiveness · healthcare · military readiness · national security