Defense Budget

Yesterday, House Republicans released a budget that included a massive increase in Pentagon spending to $613 billion for Fiscal Year 2016. The core of the proposal is a $39 billion plus-up to the Department of Defense by funding Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) accounts at artificially high levels so that OCO money can be spent on what should really be base-budget functions. Because OCO is not covered by the Budget Control Act spending caps, the proposal amounts to a massive budget gimmick that would skirt the budget caps on the Department of Defense by playing a budgetary shell game with funds roughly the size of the GDP of Lebanon. In fact, the gimmick is so brazen that it has been harshly criticized by top Republicans themselves.… Read More ›

Jeb Bush Lays out Limited Foreign Policy Vision February 20, 2015 On Wednesday, Jeb Bush laid out the foreign policy framework for his anticipated presidential campaign in a speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Bush’s remarks covered a broad range of subjects, and while he identified many of the pressing international challenges facing the United States, his remarks lacked clarity or solutions. As the presidential race moves forward, the national security debate will require more depth of understanding on issues including resolving Iran’s nuclear program, addressing the threat from the Islamic State, the fighting in Ukraine, normalizing relations with Cuba, and ongoing Pentagon spending debates, and we will look for candidates that back up emerging positions with effective policies. Bush doesn’t seem to… Read More ›

President Obama’s National Security Budget: Strategic and Sustainable? Hosted by NSN, Council for a Livable World, and the National Taxpayers Union February 5, 2015 National Security Network, the Council for a Livable World, and the National Taxpayers Union co-host two Pentagon budget briefings, one for the House and the other for the Senate. The President’s FY16 Budget Request is expected to bust the Pentagon budget caps set by the Budget Control Act–and that doesn’t even include the Overseas Contingency Operations account. The Air Force and Navy are also jockeying to create off-budget accounts for nuclear weapons modernization costs. Is this spending properly aligned with our national security priorities? Where can strategic cuts be made? Join the National Security Network, the Council for a Livable World, and the National Taxpayers Union for a briefing… Read More ›

Pentagon Budget: Failure to Adapt to 21st-Century Threats This week, the Pentagon submitted its annual budget to Congress, requesting $585.3 billion total, including a base budget of $534.3 billion and $50.9 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The request blew past the spending caps imposed by the Budget Control Act (BCA), which limits base spending to $499 billion – nearly $100 billion more than  the amount collectively spent by either Europe or  Asia on their national militaries. By ignoring the caps, the Pentagon is punting on aligning its ends and means in a coherent, realistic, and effective defense strategy. Despite some important forward-looking programs, the budget also over invests in weapon systems – like the F-35 and nuclear aircraft carriers – that are designed to… Read More ›

Top 5 Questions for Ashton Carter’s Confirmation Hearing Later this week, the Senate is scheduled to consider Ashton Carter’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. New leadership at the Pentagon provides an opportunity for policy changes that require careful thought and effective dialogue with Congress. The nomination hearing can begin this process by digging into some of the critical questions facing the Department of Defense and its role in foreign policy, including the future of Overseas Contingency Operations funding, fiscal discipline at the Pentagon, the way forward on the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, the fight against the Islamic State, and potential changes with U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine. On these critical issues to the future of U.S. defense policy, key questions include: With the… Read More ›

Tackling Compensation and Personnel Challenges at the Pentagon Ahead of the Pentagon’s budget request next week that is expected to ask for a sizable increase, a host of recent studies have highlighted ways to reduce top-line spending while addressing pressing challenges within the Department of Defense. The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission – headed by retired officials from the Pentagon, military and former lawmakers – just released a report that outlines options to modernize compensation to increase access to key benefits while also reducing costs. The options presented by the Commission would save $12 billion per year once in full effect, forestalling personnel costs from consuming the entire Pentagon budget by 2039 – as is currently projected. While compensation reform has historically been very difficult… Read More ›

A Smarter Way to Spend on Defense Tobias T. Gibson January 21, 2015 | The Hill  The United States has historically had significant difficulty preparing for the kinds of conflicts it finds itself involved in. For example, despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States continued preparing for conventional conflict during the 1990s. The result was a shortfall of necessary equipment and expertise in the early days of the War on Terror, with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld infamously quipping that “You go to war with the army you have.” Beyond challenges in adapting its hardware, the military and the intelligence community had difficulty adapting their intellectual talent to deal with emerging threats. The national security community has had to do without imperative language… Read More ›

US Drone Border Patrol Program a Huge Waste of Money, Homeland Security Report Reveals By Meredith Hoffman January 8, 2014 | Vice News The US may have wasted millions of dollars on drones that have ineffectively patrolled the Mexico border, a scathing Homeland Security report has revealed. The US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) drone surveillance program — which allegedly helped law enforcement make only 2 percent of its border arrests in 2013 — follows a distressing pattern of rapid border security investment with little oversight, analysts told VICE News. The report, released by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General Tuesday, found that CBP spent at least $62.5 million on the program in one year… But analysts maintain that using drones in border policing is an… Read More ›

The NDAA and Defense Challenges Ahead This week, the House passed the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after an extended period of behind-the-scenes negotiation. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure next week. The bill authorizes $495.6 billion in discretionary base funding for the Pentagon and $63.7 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds. While the proposed legislation excised some of the more counterproductive measures that were part of previous versions and takes on modest reforms in tough areas like compensation, the final version of the bill makes clear that nominee for secretary of defense Ash Carter will have his hands full in trying to rein in the Pentagon to be more cost-efficient and effective. F-35 development and production is fully… Read More ›

Last week, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced he would be stepping down from his position. While the timeline for his replacement is not entirely certain, what is certain is that a host of national security challenges await the next secretary of defense at a time of complicated relations between the Pentagon, the White House and Congress. Top among the challenges are better matching American military strategy to available resources, pursuing long-overdue cost-savings reforms, putting an end to the abuse of Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds, handling – and gaining authorization for – the conflict against the Islamic State, and overseeing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility through additional transfer of detainees and, ideally, its closure. 1. Develop a military strategy that achieves U.S. national security… Read More ›