One of the largest sources of waste in the defense budget is the massive number of excess bases DoD maintains in the United States. The military has requested permission from Congress to launch another round of base closures every year, projecting savings of roughly $2 billion per year. But every year, Congress denies those requests.
CSIS experts Todd Harrison, Kathleen Hicks, Andrew Hunter, Mark Cancian, and Raymond DuBois recently signed an open letter calling on members of Congress to authorize a round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).
On Tuesday, the Trump administration plans to release its first budget request to Congress, which will include a detailed budget proposal for defense. This will be the first chance to see the specific priorities of the new administration and gauge whether campaign rhetoric about growing the military will become administration policy.
The Pentagon can’t properly train and support the people and weapons it already has. Simply adding more won’t solve the problem — and could undermine long-term readiness.
As the President-elect has indicated since winning the election, defense reform is likely to remain a high priority in the new administration. Decisions that the new administration make over the coming years will shape the future military. This analysis provides recommendations that should be considered for reforming the defense budget.
Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding poses challenges for the new administration as they prepare its FY 2018 budget request. OCO funding is intended for war-related activities that cannot be forecasted. However, it has become a convenient loophole for defense spending since it is not restricted by the Budget Control Act (BCA) budget caps. This analysis address the challenges presented by OCO funding and possible options for handling base budget activities in OCO.
The failure of the MUOS 5 highlights vulnerabilities for the U.S. military space systems. This vulnerability shows that the current space architecture places too many eggs in too few baskets. As such the military needs to rethink its space architecture, but how should it consider changes for future space systems?
By increasing Japan-U.S. cooperation in space the alliance’s space systems and help deter aggression in space. Increased cooperation in space can be a strategic advantage for the alliance and a cornerstone of the U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region. This report addresses next steps for this alliance in space.
Nuclear modernization is going to be a costly endeavor, but how much will it truly cost. The modernization debate throws out varying numbers without addressing what the numbers mean. Rather than argue over numbers this article asserts that the debate should revolve around the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense strategy and if the cost is worth the investment.
This year, the Senate and House versions of the National Defense Authorization Act are full of reform initiatives, such as reductions in the number of general officers and the creation of an under secretary of defense for research and engineering.