Why, in a building filled with US military commanders who pride themselves on preparing for every contingency, particularly those considered dire, is there such a reluctance to plan – or at least to acknowledge any planning – for severe spending cuts mandated under this Washington budgetary regimen known as sequestration?
The results of last night’s election ensure that there will not be radical departures from recent discussions surrounding the size of the Defense Department’s budget moving forward. What remains to be seen, of course, is whether some form of principled compromise can be reached before sequestration will kick in and remove another roughly $500 billion in defense spending over the next decade. (And right now any such compromise seems to be far from certain.) Regardless, serious thought and planning needs to go into preparing for current and future security threats, challenges, and opportunities because other state and nonstate actors internationally have designs and strategies that they are working to implement whether we like it or not, and we will have less resources to counter them.
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments announces that it has been added to the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Management, Organizational and Business Improvement Services (MOBIS) supplier list as an authorized vendor of Consulting Services, Facilitation Services and Survey Services.
When the military buys new weapons, it insists on studying in granular detail the potential “total life cycle costs.” But when it comes to the biggest expense – personnel – decision-makers have far less visibility/…/
In the wake of his reelection, President Obama’s first pledge was to focus on “the economy and jobs and moving the country forward.” CSBA President Dr. Andrew Krepinevich believes that America’s economic recovery and long-term growth require secure access to three key regions–the Western Pacific, Persian Gulf, and Europe–and to the global commons–space, cyberspace, and the undersea. However, save for Europe, U.S. access to these regions and domains is being increasingly challenged, writes Krepinevich in Strategy in a Time of Austerity: Why the Pentagon Should Focus on Assuring Access, published in the November/December 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs.
America’s economic recovery and growth are impossible without secure access to three key regions –the Western Pacific, Persian Gulf, and Europe–and to the global commons–space, cyberspace, and the undersea. However, in all of these areas, save Europe, the U.S. access is being challenged.
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