The Department of Defense (DoD) budget request released today includes $525.4 billion in base discretionary funding, $6.3 billion in mandatory funding, and $88.5 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is the first budget request to follow the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), which capped the level of defense spending each year through fiscal year (FY) 2021.
The Department’s preview of the budget on January 26 left few surprises for the actual budget release. What is more interesting in this budget request are the major changes that were not made—the dogs that didn’t bark—and the open questions that remain for many of the proposals it includes (continue reading)