asterism
Congress != Progress
With Reagan and Gorbechev ending the cold war, there was no need for the increased military budgets and troop strength that Reagan had instituted. Therefore, Clinton brought both down to pre-Reagan levels. End of THAT story.
I don't think an accurate picture can be painted by just using budget numbers. I do agree that there was a general concept called the "peace dividend" and that was near universally accepted. I don't blame Clinton for the sum of his defense budget cuts. However, he missed a pretty big threat that was emerging and got largely ignored as it pertains to defense priorities and budgeting: the threat of middle eastern terrorism. Largely considered a law enforcement matter, the focus was on "catching the bad guys" instead of "eliminating this military threat."
That didn't work out too well. I'm not sure if I blame Clinton for that, but it certainly happened on his watch despite all the warnings by people who he believed were correct in assessing the Soviet threat.
Perhaps that Gorelick wall wasn't such a good idea and the lack of funding for HUMINT and information processing weakened our capabilities to thwart and/or respond to situations that would later expand into full long scale wars.
The Clinton Administration always treated "terrorism" as a crime, not as an enemy that could be defeated militarily. He was right, of course.
I disagree. Putting Abdul-Rahman behind bars did nothing to improve our position against Al Qaeda. Ignoring the threat that emerged in Mogadishu when outside assistance (from Al Qaeda) was discovered in favor of "catch and jail the bad guy, Mohammad Farah Aideed" actually weakened our position, as did pulling out and conceding defeat after the "Black Hawk Down" incident.
From a law enforcement perspective, there was a separation of information since disclosing certain information and methods used to acquire that information in a public trial were not viable. That hamstrung any effort to defeat the threat and it basically turned into a clusterfuck of being behind the curve.
"We can catch him here."
"How do you know that?"
"I can't tell you, but this guy is going to be here and he's the one you want."
"Well he hasn't done anything yet and since you can't tell me how you know, my protocol cannot deem this person as a 'credible threat.'"
What did Abdel-Rahman do in 1993 and what was putting him in jail supposed to accomplish?
Ironically, it was the Bush Administration that eliminated the counterterrorism branch which fell under the Pentagon's budget. Go figure.
Which counterterrorism branch of which agency and when? I believe you, but I don't know specifically which situation you are talking about since branches of different agencies are always being adjusted and shifted around.