SASLess - The departure of Andy Marshall and the defunding of the ONA have been part of the problem. There is also the cost of living in DC - as experienced Congressional aides and think-tankers retire, they're being replaced by interns and other politically ambitious strivers.
As for the Russian navy, today's equivalents are the "aggressive" Chinese and Russian nuclear modernization (the Chinese don't seem to have changed their deterrent posture and the Russians are mostly replacing Cold War stuff) and hypersonics (unless we're secretly much better at intercepting ballistics than we seem to be, what's new?)