OCO Budget

Unpacking the National Defense Authorization Act May 12, 2015   On May 6th, National Security Network and the Pentagon Budget Campaign co-hosted a lunch panel discussion, “Unpacking the NDAA” for over 30 Hill staffers. The panel included presentations from Todd Harrison, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Mandy Smithberger, Project on Government Oversight, and Ben Friedman, Cato Institute, and was moderated by Wendy Jordan, Taxpayers for Common Sense. Harrison outlined budget caps levels under the Budget Control Act and discussed areas of efficiency reforms that were included and not included in the NDAA. Friedman discussed budgetary gimmicks in the Overseas Contingency Operations account and key areas where the Pentagon needed to make strategic choices. Smithberger highlighted particular weapons programs full of waste that were cut… Read More ›

Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton (Ret.) Signs Open Letter Warning of Imbalances in Defense Budget May 1, 2015 Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton (Ret.), Senior Advisor at the National Security Network, signed an open letter calling for Defense and Congressional leaders to address “growing imbalances within the defense budget that threaten the health and viability of America’s military power.” The letter, a part of the Defense Reform Consensus project, included 38 signatories from 15 think tanks and universities, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Significant quotes from the letter: too much of the defense budget is currently consumed by institutional inefficiencies, some of which are mandated by law. This is leaving a smaller share of… Read More ›

An Updated NDAA Falls Short of Real Reform May 1, 2015 This week, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was marked up in the House Armed Services Committee and now waits to head to the floor for additional work. While the bill takes the important step of modernizing the outdated military retirement system, it stops well short of the kind of reforms and choices needed to sustain American military power efficiently and effectively. Overdue cost-savings reforms like paring down the Pentagon’s bloated civilian work force or closing excess bases were either not tackled or explicitly prohibited in the bill. Meanwhile, Congress is keeping its Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) funding $38 billion above the president’s request, ensuring that the war fund actually serves as a slush… Read More ›

Letter to Senate Urges “No” Vote on Budget Resolution Conference Report May 1, 2015 Dear Senator: On behalf of the undersigned organizations and our combined memberships, we urge you to oppose the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Resolution conference report scheduled for votes this week. The conference report contains serious fiscal concerns, particularly related to billions of dollars being allocated toward the Pentagon’s war budget for ill-defined purposes. The conferees agreed to add $38 billion to the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, an emergency account that has been used to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This brings the new total to $89 billion in addition to the $523 billion 050 defense budget. An additional $7 billion has been added in the Overseas Contingency… Read More ›

NSN Letter to House Urges “No” Vote on Budget Resolution Conference Report May 1, 2015 Dear Representative: On behalf of the undersigned organizations and our combined memberships, we urge you to oppose the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Resolution conference report scheduled for votes this week. The conference report contains serious fiscal concerns, particularly related to billions of dollars being allocated toward the Pentagon’s war budget for ill-defined purposes. The conferees agreed to add $39 billion to the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, an emergency account that has been used to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This brings the new total to $90 billion in addition to the $523 billion 050 defense budget. An additional $6 billion has been added in the Overseas Contingency… Read More ›

Analysts Call for Bipartisan US Budget Reform April 29, 2015 WASHINGTON — A group of 38 defense analysts and former US Department of Defense officials from across the ideological spectrum are calling for “bold action” on the Pentagon’s budget. In an open letter posted Wednesday on a number of websites, the group laid out its goal for major cuts to the military’s infrastructure and civilian workforce to coincide with a modernization of benefits. “Too much of the defense budget is currently consumed by institutional inefficiencies, some of which are mandated by law,” the authors wrote. “This is leaving a smaller share of the budget to pay for the manning, training and equipping of our armed forces that make the US military without peer. Now is… Read More ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›