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Should the United States increase or decrease its spending for defense?
(HTML version) Federation of American Scientists, 15 November 2012. Carl Conetta, Charles Knight, and Ethan Rosenkranz of the Project on Defense Alternatives; Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI); and Christopher Preble of the CATO Institute debate whether the U.S. should increase or decrease its spending for defense.
Press Tele-Briefing on Release of Reasonable Defense Report
Briefing w/ Congressman Barney Frank (audio), 14 November 2012.
A Smarter Way to Trim the Pentagon Budget
(HTML version) by Charles Knight, Time Battleland, 24 August 2012. The Reasonable Defense plan demonstrates how carefully conceived changes to the Pentagon budget can be consistent with economic recovery and also provide ample military capacity to protect America and our core commitments abroad.
Defense Sense: Options for National Defense Savings in Fiscal Year 2013
➪ PDF ➪ PDF summary of recommendations 15 May 2012. Cato Institute and Project on Defense Alternatives. The report outlines 18 recommendations for safely reducing the Fiscal Year 2013 defense budget by $17 – 20 billion. Two charts, one table.
How to Pay for Wars
(HTML version) by Benjamin H. Friedman and Charles Knight, The National Interest, 06 March 2012. A war tax or an effective cap on war spending can serve as a disincentive to reckless war making.
Mitt Romney says U.S. Navy is smallest since 1917, Air Force is smallest since 1947
(HTML version) Tampa Bay Times PolitiFact, 18 Janaury 2012. Charles Knight: “If Mr. Romney wants a truly stark example of diminished military capability, he should compare today’s horse cavalry to that in 1917, or even 1941 when there were still 15 active horse-cavalry regiments in the Army. ‘Today there has been total disarmament of horse cavalry,’ he might say, ‘leaving our nation defenseless in this regard.’ His chosen comparisons are almost as absurd.”
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
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.
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.”
What Price for Defense?
(HTML version) William Hartung. The Nation, 28 June 2010.
Thou Shall Not Covet Thy General’s Dollars
(HTML version) Emily Badger. Miller-McCune, 24 June 2010.
Left-Right Defense Wonk Coalition Looks to Cut $960 Billion from Bloated Pentagon Budget
(HTML version) Spencer Ackerman. The Washington Independent, 11 June 2010.
Bipartisan Group Urges Cuts in Defense Spending
(HTML version) Fiscal Times, 12 June 2010.
Task Force sees Pentagon Cuts Key to US Budget Fix
(HTML version) Andrea Shalal-Esa. Reuters, 11 June 2010.