CSBA in the News

Senior military officers place a high value on retirement benefits and health care for their families while junior enlisted personnel tend to favor increases in pay, according to new survey results from a nonpartisan policy research institute.

/…/A recent report by the influential Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments calculated America’s various missile defense systems cost anywhere from $3.3 million to $15 million a shot – and it typically takes two shots to be sure of a hit, so double that figure – compared to $1 to $3 million for a souped-up Scud. Even at these rates, the US can probably afford to buy more defensive missiles than impoverished North Korea can buy offensive missiles, but China or even Iran can simply buy more missiles than we can ever hope to counter. That’s what CSBA’s experts call a “cost imposition” dynamic, and we’re the side the costs are being imposed on.

U.S. military personnel and their dependents believe lifetime healthcare coverage isn’t worth the high price the Pentagon pays for it, preferring instead pay hikes over other potential benefits changes.

This week’s Washington Outlook column takes a look at one of the key pressures on defense procurement – the Pentagon’s budget for personnel. Todd Harrison, a budget analyst for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, linked up with a firm that analyzes corporate benefits to study whether members of the military would mind trading up some of the benefits that lawmakers and generals cling to.

Four out of five troops say they would be willing to wait until age 50 to begin drawing military retirement checks in return for a 1 percent basic pay raise now.

President Obama’s new military strategy is taking shape here on the sun-seared grasslands of West Texas where B-1 bomber pilots train.