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DoD Budget Decline
Barry Watts goes on ABC7's Government Matters to discuss the likely protracted period of decline in the DoD budget, and how the Pentagon can take a proactive approach to military priorities and sustaining the Defense Industrial Base.
Analysis
Defense Cuts Conundrum: Weighing the Hard Choices Ahead
Defense strategy is ultimately about making choices, which in peacetime often manifest themselves as decisions about the defense budget. As the budget gets squeezed, these choices become more difficult, and the current strategy may have to be modified or even abandoned. Yet without resource constraints, strategy would be unnecessary -- the military could simply throw more money at all its problems. Limited resources thus create the need for strategy, and as resources become more constrained, strategy becomes more important. The key strategic choice facing the Pentagon now is one of timing: whether to prioritize today’s military or tomorrow’s. Given the budget drawdown currently under way, the Pentagon cannot afford to do both -- it cannot get everything it wants.
Analysis
Trends and Uncertainty in the Defense Budget
Slides from September 17, 2013 presentation made by Todd Harrison at the AFA Air and Space 2013 Conference.
Analysis
Drowning Stability: The Perils of Naval Nuclearization in the Indian Ocean
Iskander Rehman, Research Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, has been awarded the Hugh G. Nott prize (third place) for Drowning Stability: The Perils of Naval Nuclearization in the Indian Ocean, published in the Fall 2012 issue of the Naval War College Review.
Analysis
In Depth: Federal News Radio
Even during sequestration the Defense Department doesn't plan to sacrifice its global presence. But it is considering new ways to administer the bureaucracy that global reach requires. Some of the military's combatant commands might disappear altogether, and some might have their geographical boundaries redrawn. For now, it's all speculation, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says it'll only be necessary if sequestration stays in place for the full ten years. Yet, it is one of the ideas DoD is examining in the wake of Hagel's recent Strategic Choices and Management Review.
Analysis
Shaping America’s Future Military – Toward a New Force Planning Construct
C-Span's full coverage of Mark Gunzinger's presentation at the Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies at the Air Force Association on the future of America's Military, including how commanders in the field and in Washington should look at strategic and budgetary planning.