“There really is former-general-officer fatigue, bordering on apprehension, on the Hill – on both sides of the aisle,” a former Senate staffer says. “Trump really burned out a lot of folks.”
By Paul McLearyWhen the stakes for space missions are at their highest, solid rocket motors meet the challenge
Rapid response is crucial in defense, and the instant thrust provided by SRMs provide a tactical advantage.
“I think Space Force and its advocates hoped that they’d have a radically new approach to budgeting and acquisition,” CSIS’s Mark Cancian says, but Congress is unlikely to agree.
By Theresa Hitchens
Deficit hawks are now nearly extinct and defense hawks are weakened. If the Democrats sweep the next election, eliminating OCO might be the mechanism for a Biden administration to cut defense.
By Mark Cancian
The congressional calendar and strategic inertia may come together to keep the defense budget relatively high. The calendar helps because the fiscal 2021 defense budget will likely be passed while Congress is in a free-spending mood.
By Mark Cancian
Without recruit training, the services will lose .5 percent of their end strength every month (unless stop loss is imposed, and that has its own costs). Because the training pipeline is several months long, units will not feel that gap for several months, but when the pipeline begins to runs dry, units will shrink.
By Mark Cancian and Adam Saxton
Mark Cancian, who used to help build and oversee execution of the defense budget at the Office of Management and Budget, peels apart the second big spending bill President Trump has proposed to help the government battle the COVD-19 virus.. From his perch at the Center for Strategic and International…
By Mark Cancian
Reassessing America’s defense strategy for a safer future
In an unpredictable world, a strong and innovative military is essential to protect the United States and its economic interests.
“I know $178 billion, by anybody’s standard, is a lot of money, but I gotta tell you, this is a million-man Army,” the deputy comptroller told reporters. But cutting manpower is off the table – for now.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“When the services say that 2022 is really the year of NDS implementation, they are putting lipstick on a pig,” says one analyst.
By Paul McLeary and Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Planning for a 21st century Navy of unmanned vessels, distributed operations, and great power competition has collapsed. Trapped by a 355-ship force goal, a reduced budget, and a fixed counting methodology, the Navy can’t find a feasible solution to the difficult question of how its forces should be structured. As a result, the Navy postponed…
By Mark Cancian and Adam Saxton
A larger NATO embroils the United States in obscure regional disputes, commits it to defend exposed countries, and unnecessarily antagonizes the Russians.
By Mark Cancian
What went wrong and what happens next? CSIS experts Mark Cancian & Andrew Hunter dive deep into JEDI.
By Mark Cancian and Andrew Hunter
Sen. Warren: “And as everything from more F-35s to massive bombs never used in combat have migrated into the OCO account, the Department of Defense has been spared from having to prioritize or live within its means. It’s not just bad budgetary practice – it’s wasteful spending.”
By Mark Cancian
If you count next year’s budget, the president will be actually selling himself short. But his other superlatives are not justified.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The first outlines of what a Biden administration’s national security policy and defense budget are coming clear. The good news is that nothing signals a major change in strategy, so deep cuts and radical restructuring are unlikely. The bad news is that the administration’s overwhelming emphasis would be on domestic affairs and there appears to…
By Mark Cancian