Analysis / Budget

What to Look for in the FY 2021 Defense Budget Request

— Seamus P. Daniels, Mark Cancian, Andrew Hunter, Tom Karako, Wes Rumbaugh, Todd Harrison

The Trump administration is expected to release its FY 2021 defense budget request on February 10, 2020. The request marks the final budget submitted under the era of the discretionary spending limits imposed by the Budget Control Act, although the caps for FY 2021 were already raised by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019. Following last year’s request, questions remain over the budget’s alignment with the National Defense Strategy. In this brief, experts from the CSIS International Security Program outline major issues to watch in the FY 2021 defense budget.

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Seamus P. Daniels, Mark Cancian, Andrew Hunter, Tom Karako, Wes Rumbaugh and Todd Harrison, "What to Look for in the FY 2021 Defense Budget Request," Center for Strategic and International Studies, February 6, 2020, last modified February 6, 2020, https://defense360.csis.org/what-to-look-for-in-the-fy-2021-defense-budget-request/.

Seamus P. Daniels is a fellow for Defense Budget Analysis in the CSIS International Security Program, where he researches issues related to defense funding, force structure, and military readiness.

Mark Cancian is a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program. He joined CSIS in April 2015 from the Office of Management and Budget, where he spent more than seven years as chief of the Force Structure and Investment Division. Previously, he worked on force structure and acquisition issues in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and spent over three decades in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Andrew Hunter is a senior fellow in the International Security Program and director of the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group at CSIS. He focuses on issues affecting the industrial base, including emerging technologies, sequestration, acquisition policy, and industrial policy. From 2011 to November 2014, Mr. Hunter served as a senior executive in the Department of Defense (DOD).

Tom Karako is a senior fellow with the International Security Program and the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he arrived in 2014. His research focuses on national security, missile defense, nuclear deterrence, and public law. For 2010–2011, he was an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, working with the professional staff of the House Armed Services Committee and the Strategic Forces Subcommittee on U.S. strategic forces policy, nonproliferation, and NATO.

Wes Rumbaugh is an associate fellow in the Missile Defense Project at CSIS. Previously, he was director of advocacy and a Van Cleave fellow at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. He holds a B.S. in political science from Missouri State University and is currently completing an M.S. in defense and strategic studies from Missouri State University.

Todd Harrison is a non-resident senior associate for the Aerospace Security Project and Defense Budget Analysis program at CSIS.

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