➪ graph Project on Defense Alternatives, 13 February 2012. Taking the Temperature of the Pentagon Base Budget Past, Present, and Future.
U.S. Defense Policy
How Much Austerity in New Pentagon Budget?
➪ PDF by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, PDA Commentary, 13 February 2012. Measured against recent spending levels, the new ten-year plan for Defense base budget spending shows only modest savings. One table.
Talking About Military Spending and the Pentagon Budget – Fiscal Year 2013
(HTML version) by Chris Hellman and Carl Conetta, National Priorities Project and Project on Defense Alternatives, February 2012. In Q&A format, addresses central issues related to the 2013 defense budget and deficit reduction debate.
Four Decades of US Defense Spending
One page review and assessment of the change in US defense spending over 40 years.
Keep Pentagon Cuts in Perspective: What the administration proposes is hardly dramatic.
➪ PDF PDA Briefing Memo #53, 05 January 2012. The roll back in Pentagon budget plans will modestly reduce spending from its recent peak, while retaining most of the post-1998 surge in the defense budget.
Strategic Adjustment to Sustain the Force: A Survey of Current Proposals
by Charles Knight, PDA Briefing Memo #51, 25 October 2011. A survey of five proposals by independent experts for adjusting US global strategy to the new fiscal realities in ways that enhance security while avoiding ‘hollowing’ of the forces. ➪ PDF
Going for Broke: The Budgetary Consequences of Current US Defense Strategy
➪ PDF PDA Briefing Memo #52, by Carl Conetta, 25 October 2011. The Pentagon’s adoption of more ambitious goals, strategy, and missions after the Cold War has led to today’s unsustainable defense budgets. Two tables.
Pentagon Cuts in Context: No reason for “doomsday” hysteria
➪ PDF by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #50, 11 October 2011. Analyzes the potential impact of the Budget Control Act on the defense budget under different scenarios and compares likely future budget levels to past ones. Two tables.
The Pentagon’s New Mission Set: A Sustainable Choice?
➪ PDF by Carl Conetta, 01 August 2011. An updated and expanded excerpt from the Report of the Task Force on a Unified Security Budget (USB) for the United States, August 2011.
Pentagon Review Must Aim for More than Modest Cuts in Defense Spending
PDA Briefing Memo #49, 25 April 2011. ➪ read or print PDF version
The President’s proposal to trim DoD’s future budget plans by 6.5% or $400 billion over 12 years is a modest step. The forthcoming Pentagon review must aim higher in order to achieve sustainability. Two charts summarize past and planned Pentagon budgets.
Continuing Resolution: Congress Goes Easy on DoD; Rebalances Budget in Pentagon’s Favor
by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #48, 17 March 2011. ➪ read or print PDF version
The struggle over a Continuing Resolution (CR) shows Congress to be reluctant to reduce defense spending. This suggests a future discretionary budget balanced more heavily in favor of the Pentagon.
The Pentagon and Deficit Reduction: FY-2012 Budget Retains Exceptional Level of Defense Spending
PDA Briefing Memo #47, 01 March 2011. ➪ read or print PDF version ➪ read HTML version
Reviews US military spending plans for 2012-2016 in the context of deficit-reduction efforts and the past 12 years of defense budget growth. The base defense budget is set to grow faster than inflation and will claim a greater proportion of discretionary spending. With 10 tables and charts.
“Are We Ready to Cut Defense Spending? What the Polls Say.”
(HTML version) by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, Huffington Post, 08 February 2011. Although neither the White House nor Congress seem eager to apply the deficit-reduction axe to the Pentagon’s record-level budgets, the American public appears ready.
Pentagon Resists Deficit Reduction: Rollback in Planned Budget Falls Far Short of Deficit Reduction Goals – Puts Fiscal Reform at Risk
➪ read or print PDF PDA Briefing Memo #46, 30 January 2011. Examines Defense Secretary Gates’ offer to cut $78 billion from defense plans over five years and compares it to fiscal reform proposals that seek much greater savings. Does the Pentagon need a yearly baseline budget above $500 billion? Or do we spend so much because our defense strategy is impractical? Two tables summarize Gates’ plan and compare different spending scenarios.
Experts Letter on Defense Spending to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
➪ read or print PDF ➪ read HTML version PDA and Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, 18 November 2010. Joint declaration by 48 top scholars and practitioners of national security policy: “We can achieve safe savings in defense if we are willing to rethink how we produce military power and how, why, and where we put it to use.”
The QDR’s Catastrophic Report
(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.”
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.
Assessing the 2010 QDR: essential questions
➪ PowerPoint PDA Briefing Memo 45, January 2010. Poses questions that must be asked in assessing the Quadrennial Defense Review.
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.
Re-Envisioning Defense: An Agenda for US Policy Debate & Transition
➪ see full PDF ➪ see full HTML (summary) PDA Briefing Memo #44, 01 December 2008. Summarizes problem areas in recent US defense policy as well as several broad topics of debate that touch on them all.
Forceful Engagement: Rethinking the Role of Military Power in US Global Policy
by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Report #22, 01 December 2008. ➪ PDF ➪ HTML ➪ HTML summary
The US has been using its armed forces beyond the limit of their utility. The result is not just diminishing returns, but negative ones.
The US has been using its armed forces beyond the limit of their utility. The result is not just diminishing returns, but negative ones.
Helicopters in America’s post-9/11 wars
Carl Conetta, Project on Defense Alternatives, Sep 2008 HTML | PDF
This article is a chapter in Lutz Unterseher, Military Intervention and Common Sense: Focus on Land Forces (Berlin-Greifswald: Ryckschau, 2008.)
Drawing on the experiences of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the article assesses the role played by helicopters, reviewing their strengths and limits. The author suggests that a dilemma shadows the use of these aircraft. On the one hand, they offer a unique combination of mobility, flexibility, and agility in working closely with ground forces, providing reconnaissance, fire, maneuver, and logistical support. However, helicopters prove acutely sensitive to environmental conditions, are relatively fragile, and can be countered by multiple, relatively-inexpensive weapon systems.
These problems can be partially mitigated, but only in ways that substantially increase costs while narrowing the scope of the crafts’ usability. This has undercut notions of using helicopters in deep attack roles and large-scale helicopter assaults.
The article concludes by examining cost-effective roles for helicopters in combat. And it asks, Do tilt-rotor aircraft offer a viable alternative?
Symposium: The Role of Force & the Armed Forces in US Foreign Policy — What have we learned?
Security Policy Working Group, 10 April 2008.
- Andrew Bacevich, “The Origins and Demise of the Bush Doctrine of Preventive War”
- Carl Conetta, “Out from the House of War: A Litmus for New Leadership in Security Policy” (printable .pdf)
- David Gold, “How Much Defense Can We Afford? (printable .pdf), as republished in Challenge (Sept/Oct 2008)