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Analysis

Surprises in the FY 2015 Defense Budget
  • March 5, 2014

Much of what was briefed in yesterday’s budget rollout was discussed by Secretary Hagel and Pentagon leaders in advance of the release. There were, however, a few surprises in the details briefed by the DoD Comptroller, Bob Hale. Slide 11 of his briefing, shown below, lists Army and Marine Corps end strength and the number of carriers projected in the force.[1] The footnote at the bottom of the slide is key to understanding what is actually funded in the budget request. This footnote and Mr. Hale’s discussion of it during the briefing indicate that the FY 2015 budget does not in fact fund the higher end-strength and carrier levels listed in the column labeled “Goal w/o Sequester FY 2019.”

In the News

DoD Official: Extra $115 Billion Does Not Fund Carrier, Troops
  • March 5, 2014
  • Defense News

Last week, top US defense officials told Congress that if the Pentagon were allowed to bust its budget caps, it would save one aircraft carrier and tens of thousands of troop billets slated for elimination. But DoD’s new spending request — which stays under the cap for 2015 but exceeds the 2016-19 caps by a total of $115 billion — contains no money for the carrier and extra troops, according to a senior DoD official.

In the News

The Slow Convergence of Resources and Strategy
  • March 4, 2014
  • Air Force Magazine

The Pentagon’s Fiscal 2015 budget request, set for unveiling this week, is the closest the Obama Administration has come yet to meeting mandated spending caps, but has some long-term problems that must be addressed,Todd Harrison, defense budget expert with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told reporters on Monday. Each federal budget the White House has issued since 2011’s Budget Control Act has steadily moved closer to the spending caps, said Harrison during a teleconference. While the Defense Department’s Fiscal 2015 proposal meets the $496 billion cap for the year, projected defense spending for Fiscal 2016 to Fiscal 2019 exceeds the caps by a total of $115 billion, he said. But Congress has not stuck to the caps either, said Harrison. A big question looms on the future of overseas contingency operations funding, as DOD has taken to moving base budget funding into OCO accounts, since they are a non-capped funding stream and these transfers have offset many cuts from the BCA. The practice appears to have continued despite the lower number of troops in Afghanistan. “This is a dangerous situation,” said Harrison, noting that these funds could disappear quickly when the United States leaves Afghanistan. (See also Harrison’s Fiscal 2015 budget backgrounder.)

In the News

Pentagon Weapons Would Get $25 Billion Less Than Planned
  • March 4, 2014
  • Bloomberg

The Pentagon’s proposed $495.6 billion budget for the coming fiscal year would provide $154 billion for weapons purchases and research, $25 billion less than projected a year ago, according to the Defense Department.

In the News

Unmanned Combat Aircraft System: Will It Ever Materialize?
  • March 4, 2014
  • Diplomat

Over at Defense News, Mark Gunzinger and Bryan Clark, senior fellows at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), make the case that it is time for America to embrace “a stealthy unmanned combat aircraft system (UCAS) that would be able to perform strike and surveillance missions over long ranges, thus greatly increasing our nation’s ability to use carriers to maintain a military presence or fight aggression in multiple regions.” They will get no argument from me. Yet, a number of challenges remain that could stop the project from really, well, taking off (sorry, I had to do it).