CSBA in the News

Beijing may be using the shoal as a bargaining chip, rather than actively seeking to establish another military outpost there, some analysts said. “They imply that they may want Scarborough Shoal, then they will back off and show that they are a good international player,” said Bryan Clark, a former senior adviser to the chief of naval operations who is now an adviser at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a think tank in Washington.

As things now stand, the Marine Corps does not expect to return to optimal aviation readiness levels until at least 2020 — assuming the service gets all the money it needs between now and then, Paxton told members of the House March 3. But the Marines may have to face another budget shock. 

Kate Blakeley, a research fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said Thornberry’s approach is a “high-risk, high-reward ploy” for defense hawks on Capitol Hill.

Kate Blakeley, a research fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, made a similar argument, noting that the acquisition reform language in the House Armed Services Committee’s draft National Defense Authorization “is not really about cost. … It’s really about time, being faster in bringing things on line.”… And, Blakely added, a major cause for slow procurement is that “Congress tends to micromanage.”

Katherine Blakeley, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, said, the three concerns in defense spending still come down to: What are you getting, how much is it going to cost and when are you getting it. But speed of delivery is taking on new importance as threats change.

“It’s kind of like a kid’s Christmas list, in that we want some more manpower in the Army, we want more helicopters, more planes, more this and more that,” said Katherine Blakeley, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “I don’t think that they have a strong idea of how they’re going to get this, given that the BCA is still in effect.”