CSBA in the News

If the Pentagon holds to its current plans to chop hundreds billions of dollars from defense spending over the next decade the U.S. Air Force may need to rethink it’s acquisition plans according to Todd Harrison defense budget specialist at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an influential DC think tank.

Todd Harrison, budget expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, argues in a new report published today that the spike in U.S. defense spending over the last decade produced “hollow growth.”

The showdown in Washington over the federal deficit and the national debt might be seen as an innocuous game of one upmanship that soon will end after the parties work out a deal.

With more rounds of defense spending cuts looming, the Pentagon must choose which roles and missions are top priority and which ones aren’t important as it drafts future budgets; a move that could no doubt entail risk and the usual round of ‘painful choices,’ a pair of think tankers advised lawmakers and their staff today on Capitol Hill.

A recent report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments concluded, “Historically the U.S. military has often been slow to identify, adequately prioritize, and respond effectively to the emerging challenges likely to impose the greatest stresses on our forces in future contingencies…”