Tag: Budget
Counting Dollars or Measuring Value: Defense Expenditure as a Share of GDP
The official 2 percent threshold, while mandated at the 2014 Wales Summit, has long been understood as an unofficial spending target for NATO members. According to 2017 estimates illustrated in the graphic, only four of the 28 NATO member states meet the 2 percent spending level while 15 are expected to meet it by 2024..
Counting Dollars or Measuring Value: Distribution of Defense Expenditure by Main Category
NATO breaks defense expenditure into four main categories: equipment, personnel, infrastructure, and other. In addition to the commitment to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense, NATO heads of state pledged at the 2014 Wales Summit to spend 20 percent of their defense budgets on major equipment.
Counting Dollars or Measuring Value: Security Assistance as a Share of GDP
As some allies and partners call for a broader view of the investments that contribute to collective defense, the CSIS study team examined security assistance spending by NATO member states and its select subset of European partners.
Counting Dollars or Measuring Value: Troop Contribution as a Share of Total Active Duty Force
The CSIS report compiles NATO member and partner countries’ troop contributions across a range of military operations. Where data was publicly available and reliable, it measures troop contribution as a percentage of the total active duty force to normalize and compare between countries with militaries of different size.
Counting Dollars or Measuring Value: Trade with Sanctioned Competitors
Most measures of security contribution focus on investment. But states also forego economic gains in support of common security. The effect of enforcing agreed upon sanctions against a potential adversary is one metric that could be used to measure this sacrifice.
Counting Dollars or Measuring Value: Average Refugee Intake
Conflict and instability to Europe’s south – in North Africa and in Syria – has generated population movements into Europe with which our allies have struggled. Some NATO members are bearing a particularly significant burden from the refugee crisis. Managing the crisis is a significant security investment for them and Europe as a whole.
Bad Idea: Making Strategy Whilst Whistling Past the Budget Caps
The Budget Control Act of 2011 was intended to promote compromise, yet that has not been the case in practice. Gregory Sanders explains why treating the budget caps as a one-off mistake, rather than a reflection of diminished political capacity, is a bad idea.
Bad Idea: Easy Savings from DoD Management Reform
There have been several budget reform proposals for cutting cost in the Defense Department. All of which pose their own challenges. Mark Cancian outlines a few of the proposals and forewarns that it is a bad idea, to think any cost saving options will be easy.
Analysis of the FY 2018 Defense Budget
This year’s budget analysis focuses on long-term trends in the defense budget and force structure and identifies key issues facing the Defense Department as it prepares for the FY 2019 budget cycle.