(HTML version) by Charles Knight and Larry Korb, Foreign Policy, 05 August 2010. “As the Sustainable Defense Task Force sought to demonstrate, failing to make reasonable reductions in military spending in this time of complex fiscal pressures will end up being far more of a threat to U.S. interests than any external enemy.”
Budget
Panel: Debt, Deficits, and Defense — Report of the Sustainable Defense Task Force
C-SPAN video of the report release briefing hosted by Rep. Barney Frank, U.S. Capitol Visitors Center, 11 June 2010.
Debt, Deficits, and Defense: A Way Forward
Report of the Sustainable Defense Task Force, 11 June 2010. ➪ PDF ➪ summary PDF
The report presents options identified by the task force for reducing DoD’s budget — in sum saving nearly $1 trillion over the decade. The task force was convened by Rep. Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. PDA played a major role in researching, composing, and producing this report.
The Dynamics of Defense Budget Growth, 1998-2011
by Carl Conetta, May 2010. ➪ PDF
Prepared for “Economics and Security: Resourcing National Priorities,” a workshop sponsored by the William B. Ruger Chair of National Security Economics, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, May 2010. This article also is a chapter in Richmond M. Lloyd, ed, Economics and Security: Resourcing National Priorities (Newport RI: Naval War College, 2010).
- A related PDA publication of interest: An Undisciplined Defense: Understanding the $2 Trillion Surge in US Defense Spending, 18 January 2010, with 21 charts & tables.
Get Serious About Reform: Budget Challenges Will Force Hard Choices
(PDF version) by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, Defense News, 21 February 2010. For a decade, Congress and the White House have been permissive when it comes to defense spending. This has undercut any impetus for reform and prioritization. Options for structural reform and revised strategic priorities are long overdue.
The President’s Dilemma: Debt, Deficits, and Defense Spending
➪ see full PDF report by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #45, 18 January 2010. The nation faces Reagan-level deficit spending and greatly increased debt. Can the president’s program of high defense spending and increased non-defense spending survive?
An Undisciplined Defense: Understanding the $2 Trillion Surge in US Defense Spending
by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Report #20, 18 January 2010. Analyzes the steep rise in defense spending since 1998. 21 charts and tables.
Report of the Task Force on a Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2010
by Lawrence Korb and Miriam Pemberton, Foreign Policy in Focus, 1 September 2009. The proposal re-balances defense, homeland security, and international affairs expenditures. PDA is a member of the report’s task force.
Toward a Sustainable US Defense Posture: An Option to save $60+ Billion Over Five Years
(printable PDF version) (HTML version) by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #42, 02 August 2007. Fiscal realities and public opinion may compel a cut in US defense spending. This memo outlines a modest option for savings to be realized by reducing fighter aircraft wings and aircraft carrier fleets.
Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY2008
(printable PDF version) Foreign Policy in Focus and the Center for Defense Information, April 2007. Proposal re-balances defense, homeland security, and international affairs expenditures. PDA is a member of report’s task force.
America speaks out: Is the United States spending too much on defense?
(printable PDF version) (HTML version) by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #41, 26 March 2007. Today, the United States is responsible for half of total world military spending. A recent Gallup poll shows that Americans are beginning to have second thoughts.
Experts give poor grades to expected defense budget proposal
(HTML version) by Bipasha Ray, Defense Analysis Bulletin #2, 01 February 2007. The fiscal 2008 defense budget to be released Feb. 5 will fall short of requirements, yet continue to be packed with pork despite recent reforms, according to defense experts at a briefing on Thursday.
Report of the task force on a Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY2007
(printable PDF version) Lawrence Korb and Miriam Pemberton, principal authors, Foreign Policy in Focus and the Center for Defense Information, 03 May 2006, Guest Publication. Builds a unified budget for all aspects of national security and assesses the opportunities for improved security through altering the balance among defense, homeland security, and international affairs expenditures. PDA is a member of report’s task force. David Unger cites this report in Our Indefensible National Security Budget, The New York Times, 20 September 2006.
Our Indefensible National Security Budget
(HTML version) David Unger. The New York Times, 20 September 2006.
Die Europäische Union: Stolpersteine auf dem Weg zur Integration (The European Union: Stumbling Blocks on the Road to Integration)
(printable PDF version) by Lutz Unterseher, Guest Publication, Studiengruppe Alternative Sicherheitspolitik, Berlin, Germany, May 2006. In German with English abstract. The EU is entering a sustained period of conflict-prone development with grossly different paths of adjustment and modernization stimulating constant fighting for a redistribution of notoriously scarce central resources. If Europe does not want to fall back onto the level of a mere free-trade arrangement, if it intends to become a unified actor in the international arena that transcends the role of just an economic bloc and is also capable of generating and executing global policies with respect to the environment, security and other issues, there is no alternative to an ‘open-club régime’.
Fighting On All Fronts
(HTML version) Jim Lobe. Asia Times, 09 February 2006.
‘Something Has to Give’ in Pentagon Spending
(HTML version) Jim Lobe. Inter Press Service, 07 February 2006.
QDR 2006: Do The Forces Match the Missions? DOD Gives Little Reason to Believe
(printable PDF version) (HTML version) by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #36, February 2006. The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review sets out ambitious new goals and missions for the US armed forces, but fails to clarify the link between missions, assets, and budgets.
Terrorism, World Order, and Cooperative Security: A research and policy development agenda
(HTML version) by Carl Conetta. PDA Briefing Memo #24, 9 September 2002. The war on terrorism is transforming US policy and reshaping global politics. But public debate regarding the campaign — its strategy and progress — has been feeble. Likewise, the evaluation of new programs and spending meant to support it has been superficial. This evinces the fact that US policy discourse itself suffered a serious blow on 11 September 2001. The article outlines areas and issues of concern.
Bigger Budgets Will Not Cure the Pentagon’s Ills
(HTML version) by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, op-ed in the Boston Globe, 08 October 2000. Traces recent Pentagon problems to a failure to implement defense reform and adapt to the conditions of the new era. A short bibliography of relevant online material (with links) is included.
Can the United States Spend Less on Defense? — Toward a Smaller, More Efficient, and More Relevant US Military
(HTML version) PDA Briefing Memo #17, October 2000. Examines issues of threat assessment, strategy, and force management, identifying options for moving toward a smaller, less expensive US military. It concludes that in several ways current US strategy is unnecessarily ambitious and that the armed forces are poorly adapted to present day needs. It suggests adjustment in several areas, including regional war preparations, military presence abroad, and the diplomatic activity of the US military. The memo also proposes a variety of structural reforms to increase the efficiency of the armed forces.
Europe’s Armed Forces at the Millennium: A Case Study of Change in France, the United Kingdom, and Germany
(HTML version) by Dr. Lutz Unterseher, chair, International Study Group on Alternative Security Policy (SAS), PDA Briefing Report #11, December 1999. Many European nations are re-thinking their post-Cold War military requirements in light of NATO’s new strategic concept and the experience of the Kosovo war. This article analyzes the process of defense restructuring and modernization in France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. In each case, it offers an overview of current military posture and closely examines the plans for change in force structure, equipment procurement, and personnel policies, attending to various constraints on defense planning, including military traditions, economic conditions, and domestic politics.
The Readiness Crisis of the U.S. Air Force: A Review and Diagnosis
(HTML version) (summary) by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, PDA Briefing Report #10, 22 April 1999. By some accounts, the Air Force is suffering from a systemic readiness crisis brought on by a combination of post-Cold War defense retrenchment and increased operational activity. PDA’s examination of the Air Force’s recent readiness problems and of longer-term trends in readiness and optempo finds little to support this view. Neither talk of crisis, nor crisis spending are warranted.
Defense Sufficiency and Cooperation: A US Military Posture for the post-Cold War Era
by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, Project on Defense Alternatives briefing report, 01 March 1998. ⇒ HTML ⇒ PDF
This study presents a comprehensive and coherent US military posture option for a fifteen-year period beginning in 1998. While maintaining continuity of key aspects of US security strategy, it finds ample opportunity for further reductions in forces size and consequently in budget. Includes specification of force structure, equipment holdings, deployment, modernization plans, and defense budgets.
Wanting Leadership: Public Opinion on Defense Spending
(HTML version) by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, January 1998. Since 1982 significantly more Americans have supported cuts in defense spending than have supported increases. After 1994, when President Clinton called for “no further cuts in spending,” the portion of Americans supporting increases has risen somewhat. Surveys uphold the key role of leadership in the formation of public sentiments about defense-related issues finding that a solid majority of the public would support relatively deep cuts in the Pentagon budget if the President and Congress proposed them.
Post-Cold War US Military Expenditure in the Context of World Spending Trends
by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, PDA Briefing Memo #10, January 1997.
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Based on a review of official world military spending data, this study finds evidence that the strategic position of the US and its allies has improved immensely relative to the potential threat states. It also looks at regional trends and offers a perspective on the new and ambitious regional military strategy of the U.S.
Build-Down: US Armed Forces Retrenchment in the Context of Modernization
by Carl Conetta, Charles Knight and Alan Bloomgarden, PDA Briefing Memo #8, March 1994.
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A detailed examination of how current military modernization programs will interact with planned force reductions in shaping America’s future armed forces. The report looks beyond superficial indicators of change to suggest the real, net effect of the current policy on the nation’s military capability.