5/17/12 RD Bulletin: Cartwright Calls for Deep Nuke Cuts As House Takes Up NDAA Bill

Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA) Special: Defense Sense

PDA, in conjunction with Chris Preble and Benjamin Friedman, has released a report which outlines $17-20 billion in national security savings this fiscal year.  Some of the recommendations included in the report resemble amendments being offered to the National Defense Authorization Act this week.  For a summary of the report, click here.  (5/15/12)

State of Play

Legislative: The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is being considered by the full House this week.  President Obama has already issued a veto threat for the legislation due to concerns about detainee language as well as impediments to implementation of the New START treaty.  The White House has also raised concerns that the bill, as currently drafted, is $4 billion above the President’s budget request. This is especially ironic, given that the administration’s request is itself $4 billion above the spending caps put into law by the Budget Control Act.  As a result, both spending proposals would violate current law.  In issuing its veto threat, the administration chastised House Republicans for adding additional unneeded aviation assets; “Retaining large numbers of under-resourced aircraft in the fleet in today’s fiscally constrained environment would significantly increase the risk of a hollow force.”  Meanwhile, HASC’s Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) fired off a letter to the Defense Department rebutting Secretary Panetta’s earlier criticism of the House NDAA.  McKeon’s Senate counterpart, SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI), has said that he intendeds to adhere to the BCA spending caps in the Senate version of the NDAA. 

Today, the full House Committee on Appropriations approved the annual defense appropriations bill, which would provide more than $5.3 billion in procurement funding above the President’s budget request.  Overall, the measure is $3.1 billion above the Defense Department’s request for FY13.  Notably, the bill would block the proposed mothballing of the Global Hawk Block 30 drone fleet, add an additional DDG-51 destroyer, and prevent the administration from retiring three Navy cruisers.  The bill would also add 11 more F/A-18E/Fs and seven additional C-130s.  For a summary of items added by the committee to the President’s budget request, click here. 

Speaker of the House John Boehner has called on Congress to extend the statutory debt limit before the November elections and is again insisting on spending cuts and “reforms” as a means of offsetting the debt limit increase.  Boehner specifically said that tax increases could not be used as an offset.  President Obama, meeting with Congressional leaders yesterday, reportedly insisted that Congress send him a “clean” debt limit extension free of spending cuts or tax increases.    

Executive: A panel led by retired Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James Cartwright, has issued a report that recommends an 80 percent reduction in the United States’ nuclear arsenal, bringing the total number of weapons down to 900, as well as the elimination of all nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles.  The head of the Air Force, Gen. Norton Schwartz, seems to disagree with Cartwright's assertions.  And an anonymous, senior aerospace official has published a report on the Lexington Institute’s website, which recommends defense acquisition and regulatory reforms as an alternative to sequestration.

The Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe reports that the head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, U.S. General John Allen, will be leaving his current post early next year to take the helm of U.S. European Command.  Following a 60 Minutes interview, in which two pilots discussed why they are refusing to fly the F-22, Secretary Panetta has instituted new restrictions on Raptor flights and training missions and has ordered the expedited instillation of new backup oxygen supply systems.  During testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford warned that sequestration cuts would force the services to cut 50 ships from the current fleet-size of 285 vessels. 

At a discussion held at AEI this week, former Pentagon under secretary Michèle Flournoy described the United States as being at a “strategic inflection point” where hard choices have to be made. Though she was vague on details, Flournoy made it clear that when it came to the administration's attitude toward defense savings, no program was considered sacred.  She also noted that she wasn’t aware of any planning on behalf of the administration to budget for sequestration cuts, even though the Office of Management and Budget has said it will begin issuing sequestration directives by the end of this summer unless Congress takes significant action to nullify the automatic cuts. 

Polling: Last week, the Stimson Center hosted an event to discuss the results of a recent Internet survey on defense spending. The survey, carefully designed to be as balanced as possible, was administered to 665 people, including Republicans, Democrats, and independents. Of respondents, 66 percent of Republicans and almost 90 percent of Democrats were in favor of military reductions.  On average, respondents supported reducing the military budget by $103 billion this year, while a majority of those surveyed supported reductions of at least $83 billion.  Both figures are substantially higher than the recommendations outlined in a new report by PDA, Chris Preble, and Benjamin Friedman, entitled Defense Sense, which recommends 18 national security cuts that could achieve $17-20 billion in savings this fiscal year, as well as the $55 billion in sequestration cuts scheduled to take effect next year. 

Project on Defense Alternatives Perspective: The integrity of the deficit reduction process depends on not allowing accounting measures to give a false impression of savings or to arbitrarily shield any corner of discretionary spending from mandated reductions.  The 2013 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund, which is exempt from the caps in the Budget Control Act, includes a plus up for personnel cost of $4.5 billion dollars from the 2012 level of $1.6 billion even though the ratio of OCO deployments to total end strength has declined steadily in recent years.  Thus we conclude there is no legitimate reason to increase personnel spending in OCO.  Clearly, the Pentagon wishes to account for more of its personnel costs in OCO (not subject to caps) simply to free up more money in its base budget (subject to caps) for other things.  This is not legitimate accounting and should be overturned.   When we add this illegitimate transfer between accounts to the $4 billion above BCA spending caps already in the administration’s FY2013 request, the administration and Congress need to find an additional $8 billion to cut from national security accounts in order to comply with BCA. 

Highlights

Cato@Liberty: New Paper Argues for Immediate, Practical Cuts in Military Spending

Highlighting the new report, Defense Sense, Chris Preble argues that military spending reductions are prudent, possible, and would not entail any changes in the United States’ strategic posture.  Preble highlights five key recommendations: Reductions of military personnel in Europe, reduction of active-component military personnel, a refocusing on proven missile defense technologies, and cancellation of the F-35B variant and Littoral Combat Ship programs. (5/15/12)

AOL Defense: Cartwright Targets F-35, AirSea Battle; Warns of $250B More Cuts (5/15/12)

"While we squeal a lot about that reduction, we were heading that way anyway," Hoss Cartwright, former Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience at the annual Joint Warfighting Conference.  Cartwright predicts that $250 billion or more in military spending reductions will occur even if sequestration is nullified.  Cartwright also expressed fears that the F-35, the Pentagon's most expensive program, might prove vulnerable to enemy cyber-attacks. (5/15/12)

Battleland: Budget Brain Freeze

Reporting on recent defense developments, in particular HASC Chair Buck McKeon’s letter to Panetta, Mark Thompson concludes that the defense budget mess will only get messier.  Thompson notes that McKeon’s comments regarding the unpopular nature of defense reductions run contrary to the findings of a recent survey.  In response to McKeon and fellow HASC member Rep. Randy Forbes’ (R-VA) assertions that the defense budget is dropping to a point where it can’t guarantee security, Thompson notes: “Leadership is about assessing risk, and putting the always-limited funds where they will do the most good.  (5/14/12)

Other News and Commentary

Stars and Stripes: Cost to relocate Marines off Okinawa a moving target

In an agreement reached last month, five thousand U.S. Marines will be relocated from Okinawa, Japan to a site on Guam.  Estimates put the move’s total cost for U.S. taxpayers at $5.8 billion, while Japan is offering to cover an additional $2.8 billion.  However, GAO has found that a 2006 agreement to transfer 5,000 Marines off the island cost $13 billion more than the original $10.27 billion estimate.  (5/15/12)

National Interest: Why Americans Are Less Hawkish than Their Leaders 

In a piece on National Interest, Benjamin Friedman examines leadership decisions in the context of a recent defense spending survey, in which 90 percent of Democrats and two-thirds of Republicans supported military spending reductions.  Friedman points to Gallup records which indicate that “substantially more Americans say that we spend too much on defense than say we spend too little.” Friedman suggests that the opinion gap, or “slack”, between decision makers and the general public is a product of relative power. This relative power also results in a national defense policy that is relatively unaffected by voters or international politics. (5/15/12)

The Aviationist: The mysterious U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle detachment in Djibouti. Are they conducting covert air strikes in Yemen?

David Cenciotti surmises that eight F-15E Strike Eagles, which have been stationed in the Horn of Africa for ten years, may be participating in airstrikes in Yemen along with Reaper drones.  Yemeni residents reported airstrikes on a town in mid-March for which the government claimed responsibility, even though, at the time, Yemeni pilots were on strike.  (5/11/12)

National Journal: U.S. General: Cost Worries Could Derail Plan for Next Bomber to Be Unmanned

Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, who heads Air Force Global Strike Command, recently noted during a breakfast-event that Air Force plans for an “optionally manned” bomber could prove unaffordable under current budgetary constraints.  Kowalski proclaimed that, given price limitations, regular operational capability and manned operability would take precedent over the need for developing a nuclear capable, unmanned platform.  (5/11/12)

Battleland: Why It is Time to Clean the Pentagon’s Augean Stables

Chuck Spinney explicates the military-industrial-congressional complex bluntly in a critique of its failure to properly prioritize military interests.  Spinney refers to the F-22 as “the poster-child” for the malevolence of the MICC where “factional politics place its interests ahead the national interest by enforcing political decisions that spend other people’s money and spill other people’s blood.” Spinney critiques the value system of the MICC, in which people should be prioritized, but hardware inevitably wins out.  (5/15/12)

The Will and the Wallet: Walk the Talk

Matthew Leatherman notes that while Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) may receive criticism for the topline amount authorized by the NDAA, currently $8 billion above the BCA spending cap, the Chairman is remarkably consistent.  Leatherman suggests that McKeon has leverage over the administration on this issue, because the President’s budget request is also above the spending caps placed in law by BCA.  (5/15/12) 

Navy Times: $2.2M sub mishap was ‘avoidable,’ report says

Sam Fellman reports on a submarine crew error, which left the USS Georgia out of commission for three months.  Evidently, the cause of the mishap was a bolt accidentally left in the submarine’s gear housing during a routine inspection.  As a result, the submarine was sidelined right before it was needed for action in Libya early last year.  (5/14/12)

Los Angeles Times: Afghan police units tangled in criminal activity

David S. Cloud and Laura King report that a U.S.-backed effort to recruit Afghan police has not only failed to curtail violence, but has also resulted in increasing amounts of corruption.  According to a recent RAND Corporation report, “insurgent activity in most of the 78 areas patrolled by the local police is not significantly different than in areas without the units.”  These numbers contradict the Pentagon’s assertions that the police programs have been a success.  (5/14/12)

Center for American Progress: The Top 10 Things to Know About Military Compensation

Larry Korb, Alex Rothman, and Max Hoffman identify potential steps to reduce military personnel costs without “breaking faith with the men and women who are serving or have served.”  They explain that personnel costs have nearly doubled during the last decade, and propose a series of reforms outlined in a recent CAP report.  The authors note that these reforms are all based around pay, healthcare, and retirement, and would not affect active-duty personnel.  (5/11/12)

AOL Defense: Poll Finds Americans Ready to Cut Defense; Public Ignores DC's Shadow Play

Gordon Adams asserts that regardless of how dramatic the conflict in Washington over defense spending may appear, Republican-proposed increases in defense spending will never pass in the Democratically-controlled Senate. Adams refers to the drama as “shadow-play” conceived for an election year and maintains that sequestration should never have been taken seriously.  Gordon also argues that the Republican platform, built around “defending defense,” is both ill-conceived and ill-advised.  Adams concludes that the American public gets it: “We built up, we are strong, the war is over, and it is time for Pentagon discipline.” (5/10/12)

Reports

Government Accountability Office: Warfighter Support: Army Has Taken Steps to Improve Reset Process, but More Complete Reporting of Equipment and Future Costs Is Needed (5/15/12)

Government Accountability Office: State Partnership Program: Improved Oversight, Guidance, and Training Needed for National Guard's Efforts with Foreign Partners (5/15/12)

Congressional Research Service: NATO’s Chicago Summit (5/14/12)

Congressional Budget Office: H.R. 4310, Preliminary estimate of the direct spending effects of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (5/11/12)

Congressional Research Service: Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation and Security Issues  (5/10/12)

Congressional Research Service: Understanding China’s Political System (5/10/12)

Congressional Research Service: Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians (5/10/12)

Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College: Disjointed Ways, Disunified Means: Learning from America's Struggle to Build an Afghan Nation (5/10/12)

Global Zero U.S. Nuclear Policy Commission: Modernizing U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Force Structure and Posture (May, 2012)

The Lexington Institute: Meeting the DoD Sequestration-Level Cost Cuts Without Cutting Strategy, Programs or Readiness  (April, 2012)

Events

5/21/12: The Cato Institute: The Future of the U.S. Navy Surface Fleet

At 12:00 pm on May 21, 2012, the Cato Institute will host a discussion on the future of the U.S. naval surface fleet featuring Robert O. Work, Under Secretary of the Navy; Eric J. Labs, Senior Analyst for Naval Forces and Weapons, Congressional Budget Office; Ben Freeman, National Security Fellow, Project on Government Oversight; Christopher Preble, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute; moderated by Benjamin Friedman, Senior Fellow in Defense and Homeland Security Studies, Cato Institute.  The discussion is likely to focus on Freeman's latest study on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), with response from Under Secretary of the Navy Robert Work.  Work has emerged as one of the most outspoken advocates for the LCS.  To RSVP, click here. 

Compiled and submitted by:
Ethan R. Rosenkranz, program associate
Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA)
http://www.comw.org/pda/
202-316-7018

5/11/12 RD Bulletin: House GOP Attempts to Block Sequester as Obama Threatens Veto

PDA Reset Defense Bulletin – 5/11/12
ed. Ethan R. Rosenkranz

State of Play

Legislative: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense approved its annual spending bill behind closed doors this week, providing $607.7 billion for National Defense including war funding costs and $519.2 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget.  This base budget is $3.1 billion over the President’s FY13 request and even higher than the defense cap placed in law by the Budget Control Act.  Included in the bill is $278 million for the Global Hawk Block 30 drone, which the administration has proposed cancelling, as well as a provision halting planned retirements and reassignments of National Guard and Reserve assets until Congress and GAO have a chance to further study the issue.   The bill also blocks the proposed mothballing of the C-27J cargo plane.  The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations has released an initial version of its annual spending bill that would provide $40.1 billion for the State Department’s base budget (excluding OCO funding), which represents a 14 percent cut from the President’s budget request.   House Appropriators have also approved their version of the Military Construction and Veterans Administration spending bill, which provides $71.7 billion in discretionary spending, a figure roughly $700 million below the administration’s FY13 request. 

The House Committee on Armed Services held a markup of its annual authorization bill this week, with the legislation expected to hit the House Floor next week.  Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) offered an amendment, which was defeated, that would have held back half of the procurement funding for the F-35 until the Pentagon can provide Congress with an initial operating capability (IOC) date for the JSF.  The Ranking Member of the committee, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) offered a substitute amendment that was adopted to require the Pentagon to provide an IOC date by December 31, 2012; but would not punish DoD for failing to meet the requirement.  The panel also adopted an amendment which requires GAO to study hull cracks, engine failure, and other problems with the Littoral Combat Ship as well as an amendment to block the Pentagon from considering or planning new rounds of base closures.   Pentagon leaders were quick to blast the HASC proposal saying it could endanger funding for training and equipment, telling reporters that, ““If members try to restore their favorite programs without regard to an overall strategy, the cuts will have to come from areas that could impact overall readiness.  There is no free lunch here. Every dollar that is added will have to be offset by cuts in national security.”

Meanwhile, CQ Today reports that Senate Appropriators will provide an additional $5.1 billion in OCO funding for the Department of Defense while cutting the same amount from the State Department’s FY13 OCO request.  This is in order to fulfill President Obama’s FY13 defense request while staying within the spending caps implemented by the Budget Control Act.  And a group of bipartisan senators has written the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee requesting authorization for the Pentagon to procure an additional Virginia-class submarine and DDG-51 destroyer over the next five years. 

The House passed legislation this week sponsored by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) that would prevent sequestration from taking effect next year and replace the pending automatic cuts with more than $300 billion in reductions to domestic programs.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded to the bill by declaring that any compromise to avoid sequestration must include new sources of government revenue, the President has vowed to veto Ryan's legislation, and Secretary Panetta later told reporters that “defense should not be exempt from doing its share to reduce the deficit.”    House Democrats were denied a chance to offer an alternative plan that would have included cuts to agricultural assistance programs, implementation of the so-called “Buffet Rule,” and cuts to oil and natural gas subsidies.  Neither the Democratic nor Republican leadership have so far endorsed further defense savings as a means of replacing automatic cuts. 

Executive: Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, the Army and Marine Corps vice-chiefs asserted that sequestration would force the two services to involuntarily separate up to 225,000 personnel in addition to the proposed reduction of 107,000 Corps and Army personnel over the next six years.  All four vice-chiefs implored Congress to quickly remove the sequester and not wait until the last minute to strike a deal.  Pentagon leaders have asked for one additional year of funding for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) as House appropriators zeroed out funds for the program in its annual spending bill this week.  DoD will still move forward with plans to test the interceptor this coming November regardless of whether Congress provides funding this fiscal year. 

Last weekend, two Air National Guard pilots appeared on 60 Minutes to discuss why they are refusing to fly F-22 Raptors, which have been plagued by unusually high incidents of oxygen-supply malfunctions causing pilots to suffer hypoxia.  The two pilots have now been declared whistleblowers, and the head of Air Combat Command says he will begin flying F-22s himself in order to dispel concern amongst pilots.  The White House has nominated the commander of Air Forces Europe, Gen. Mark Welch III, to replace the head of the Air Force, Gen. Norton Schwartz, later this year.  AOL Defense’s Colin Clark had earlier predicted the appointment. 

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and Secretary Panetta are urging support for Congressional ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention along with Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) . The Center for American Progress has published a new report on military compensation reform, which finds that the current system is no longer suited for the all-volunteer force and calls for modest reforms to address the rapid growth in benefit costs.  In addition, the Project on Government Oversight and Taxpayers for Common Sense have released an updated version of their previous savings proposal that outlines almost $700 billion in military savings over ten years. 

Highlights

Huffington Post: Public overwhelmingly supports large defense spending cuts

R. Jeffrey Smith reports on the results of an innovative survey, produced by the Center for Public Integrity, the Program for Public Consultation, and the Stimson Center, which allowed randomly selected respondents to adjust defense spending and priorities in a detailed manner. The average respondent cut $103 billion, or about 18 percent from the Pentagon’s budget, almost double the $55 billion in sequestration cuts scheduled to take effect next year. In addition respondents cut an average of 43 percent of funding for the Afghanistan conflict, highlighting disdain for the unpopular conflict.  (Reset Defense will provide more coverage on this survey in next week’s edition).  (5/10/12)

The Hill: Analyst: Romney plan would boost Pentagon budget by $2 trillion

Gov. Romney’s proposed defense spending plan could have dramatic repercussions for the budget deficit.  According to CNAS security analyst Travis Sharp, Romney’s plan to maintain the defense budget at 4 percent of GDP would increase military spending by about $2.1 trillion over ten years. Sharp notes that increased military spending does not necessarily correlate to a more secure global environment: “You can never eliminate all the risk — no matter how much you spend.” (5/10/12)

Flightglobal: Senior official raises F/A-XX doubts while retired USMC Generals question USN’s F-35 commitment

A senior Pentagon official is questioning the Navy’s ability to fund a replacement platform for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which would be retired in the 2030s.  The Navy says that it will replace earlier versions of the F/A-18 with its F-35C, but needs a different replacement platform for the E/F variant.  A retired Marine Corps general, Lt. Gen. Emerson Gardner says the F/A-XX program raises questions about the Navy’s commitment to the F-35C.  For Philip Ewing’s thoughts on the F/A-XX, click here.  (5/4/12)

The Huffington Post: The F-22: Final Delivery for a Flying Disaster

While highlighting the recent incidents of pilots unwilling to fly the F-22, Bill Hartung argues that not only is the F-22 "a danger to its pilots, it has little use in the real world." Hartung points out that it took a concerted effort by SASC Ranking Member John McCain (R-AZ) and Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI), as well as former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and a veto threat from President Obama, just to halve the number of planes under contract. The ever-more expensive F-35 appears to be the next budgetary battle: "Let's hope the F-35 doesn't become the next generation's F-22 – a plane we don't need at a price we can't afford." (5/3/12)

Other News and Commentary

Navy Times: New Coast Guard ship has rust, holes in hull

A Coast Guard vessel put into operation in October, 2011, has been found to have "holes and spots of rust" in the hull.  According to the vessel's captain, Charles Cashin, this is extremely unusual for a ship of this age.  The cutter, known as the Stratton, is third in a recent delivery of 418-foot ships to the Coast Guard in an attempt to modernize their aging fleet.  Design flaws are haunting the Navy as well since its first two Littoral Combat Ships appear to be experiencing similar symptoms.  Of the two variants of the LCS, the General Dynamics model suffers from symptoms of rust, and the Lockheed Martin version "can hardly even make it out of the harbor." (5/8/12)

AOL Defense: Sequestration Is More Likely Than You Think

Conservative commentator Mackenzie Eagleton argues that Congress will be just as unable to prevent sequestration during the lame duck session as it is today.  Eagleton further asserts that a short-term fix to sequestration would likely be just as disastrous as ignoring the cuts altogether, and she makes the case that the effects of sequestration are already being felt by the defense industrial base.  (5/8/12)

AOL Defense: Navy Still Thrashing Out LCS Tactics, Design, Top Admiral Admits

In an exclusive interview with AOL Defense, Rear Adm. Thomas Rowden discusses the troubled Littoral Combat Ship program and admits that the Navy is still working to determine “everything from concepts of operation to damage control to the ships' top speed [which] is still potentially open to revision.”  Rowden points out that the first two LCS were purchased with R&D funds, not through the traditional shipbuilding account, because the service is still trying to figure out how they’re going to “utilize these ships.”  Meanwhile, the Navy’s newest LCS has completed acceptance trials and will be delivered to the service later this spring. (5/8/12)

The National Interest: Debunking the Missile-Defense Myth

Scientists have been claiming for decades that missile defense simply doesn't work.  Now, nuclear physicist Yousaf Butt reports that the Pentagon's Defense Science Board (DSB) has confirmed that “while missile defense will create incentives for U.S. adversaries and competitors to up their ballistic-missile stockpiles, it won't provide any combat capability to counteract these enlarged arsenals."  A recent GAO study has found that the reason unworkable programs progress so far in the procurement process is that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) does not fully test incremental processes required for programs to function.  (5/7/12)

Washington Post: Pentagon report says Defense Department whistleblowers have been left vulnerable to reprisals

R. Jeffrey Smith and Aaron Mehta, managing editor and reporter (respectively) at the Center for Public Integrity, note that the Pentagon has exhibited sloppy implementation of rules intended to protect whistleblowers in the department.  Smith and Mehta allege that in several 2010 cases reviewed by investigators, the Directorate for Military Reprisal Investigations dismissed circumstances of individuals suffering serious punishments as a result of issuing complaints.  In response, SASC chair Carl Levin (D-MI) and ranking member John McCain (R-AZ) have written a letter to Secretary of Defense Panetta requesting a copy of the investigator's report and a reopening of some closed reprisal cases. (5/5/12)

The Will and the Wallet: Burning a Hole in Your Pocket

Russell Rumbaugh discusses the differences between the Senate and House 302(b) allocations, which govern how discretionary spending is dispersed through the appropriations process.  Rumbaugh reports that the House appropriators have increased the defense subcommittee’s allocation by $5 billion above the President’s request while the House budget committee set an allocation for Function 050 that is only $3.7 billion above the President’s request.  However, Rumbaugh points out that House Republicans will have a lot of latitude to move money between different national security accounts, such as the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons program.  (5/3/12)

Battleland: The Army and Special Forces: The Fantasy Continues

Gordon Adams responds to a recent New York Times piece, which reported that Gen. Ray Odierno is trying to restructure the Army to replicate the successful tactics of Special Operations Forces during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Adams, however, points out that the American military has made a mess of Iraq and Afghanistan, without successfully stabilizing either country, and he questions why Odierno would want to implement similar strategies in Africa.  (5/3/12)

Washington Post: Defense procurement problems won’t go away

Beginning with the Reagan administration's Packard Commission and continuing most recently with last month's Defense Business Board task force, Walter Pincus reports on the quagmire of defense procurement. The main conclusion of the recently released Defense Business Board report was that the three separate processes of military requirements, civilian-directed, and hybrid budgeting acquisition should be merged with a common documentation. The Packard commission came to the same conclusion sixty years ago.  Pincus says, "It’s time to pay attention." (5/2/12)

Reports

Government Accountability Office: Security Force Assistance: Additional Actions Needed to Guide Geographic Combatant Command and Service Efforts (5/10/12)

Government Accountability Office: Defense Management: Actions Needed to Evaluate the Impact of Efforts to Estimate Costs of Reports and Studies (5/10/12)

Congressional Budget Office: Status of Discretionary Appropriations: FY 2013 House (5/9/12)

Project on Government Oversight and Taxpayers for Common Sense: Spending Even Less, Spending Even Smarter: Recommendations for National Security Savings, FY 2013 to FY 2022  (5/8/12)

Congressional Budget Office: SequesterReplacement Reconciliation Act  (5/8/12)

Congressional Budget Office: Monthly Budget Review (5/8/12)

Government Accountability Office: Nuclear Weapons: Evaluation of Report on Feasibility of Increasing Air Transportation of Nuclear Weapons, Components, and Materials (5/4/12)

             

Congressional Research Service: In Brief: Clarifying the Concept of “Partnership” in National Security (5/4/12)

Government Accountability Office: Improvements Needed to Enhance DOD's Management Approach and Implementation of Item Unique Identification Technology  (5/3/12)

Government Accountability Office: Defense Inventory: Actions Underway to Implement Improvement Plan, but Steps Needed to Enhance Efforts  (5/3/12)

Center for Strategic and Budgetary Studies: The FY2013 Defense Budget and the New Strategy-Reality Gap (5/3/12)

Center for American Progress: Reforming Military Compensation: Addressing Runaway Personnel Costs Is a National Imperative  (May, 2012)

Air & Space Power Journal: Team Building: The Next Chapter of Airpower Command and Control in Afghanistan (May-June, 2012)

Events

5/15/12: Election 2012: The National Security Budget

At 1:00 pm on May 15, 2012, the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for a New American Security and the New America Foundation will host a discussion on the U.S. national security budget featuring former Under Secretary for Defense for Policy, Michèle Flournoy.  “With the sequestration mechanism set to cut at least $500 billion from the Department of Defense, on top of budget reductions in recent years, discussants will consider an issue sure to face the next administration: U.S. defense spending in the context of American grand strategy.”  Click here to RSVP. 

5/3/12 RD Bulletin: Ryan Drops Bill to Nullify FY13 Sequester

State of Play

Executive: In a surprise visit to Afghanistan this week, President Obama and President Hamid Karzai signed a long-term strategic agreement governing future military, diplomatic, and economic relations between the two nations.  However, the agreement is short on specifics, and does not guarantee specific amounts of future U.S. aid to Afghanistan nor does it state the exact levels of NATO or U.S. troops expected to remain past 2014.  In its semi-annual report to Congress on stability operations in Afghanistan, the Pentagon notes that corruption in the Afghan government, militant sanctuaries in Pakistan, and poor U.S.-Pakistani relations pose the largest obstacles to long-term security in Afghanistan. 

Despite the fact that the services have declined to submit to Congress an annual unfunded priorities list, U.S. Special Operations Command has requested $143 million for improved intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.  The Navy has proposed retiring four cruisers in FY13 as part of its overall savings plan; however HASC has moved to prohibit funding for the cruisers’ retirement as part of its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  The NDAA mark also blocks the proposed decommissioning of the Global Hawk Block 30 drone, does not include proposed funding for two new rounds of base closures, and it provides nearly $400 million in unrequested funding for heavy combat vehicles.   The House committee has also added language increasing procurement of Virginia-class submarines in FY14, and it appears as if the Senate may concur.  

A small number of Air Force pilots are refusing to operate the F-22 Raptor following an official investigation that could not determine the root cause of eleven malfunctions in the oxygen-supply system.  Meanwhile, the United States has deployed an unknown number of F-22s to the United Arab Emirates, which Iran has called a “plot” by the United States and Israel to create instability in the region, although analysts have noted that this batch of F-22s has not been upgraded to engage ground targets.  The United States also appears to be reversing its decision not to sell new F-16s to Taiwan raising tensions with China. 

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has created an online simulator which allows the public to simulate how they would tackle the federal budget deficit.  81 percent of respondents chose to decrease U.S. troop levels, while 75 percent of respondents support a reduction in shipbuilding. 

Legislative: House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) has introduced H.R.4966, the Sequester Replacement Act of 2012, which would prevent the majority of sequestration cuts in Fiscal Year 2013 and lower the total discretionary spending cap for FY13 by $19 billion to conform to the recently passed House budget resolution.  Ryan is also in the process of crafting a deficit reduction package, which will be called the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act and will draw on savings recommendations issued by six standing committees under the reconciliation process.  This savings package is intended to replace the sequestration cuts scheduled to take place next year.  The House Budget Committee is expected to report out the legislation on May 7, and the package could hit the House Floor later that week.  For more on the deficit reduction package’s contents, click here. 

The House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense is expected to hold its markup of the annual defense appropriations bill either the week of May 7 or May 14.  The House Armed Services Committee is expected to markup the National Defense Authorization Act on May 9.  The bill would provide $554 billion in Function 050 discretionary spending, which is roughly $4 billion above the President’s budget request, and around $8 billion above the cap instituted by the Budget Control Act. 

Project on Defense Alternatives Perspective: While speaking at the Stimson Center this week, the head of the Air Force, Gen. Norton Schwartz, warned that the quickest way to a hollow force was to maintain current force structure while providing the services with less funding.  “If you give us force structure back, give us the money, too, because the quickest way I know to a hollow force is to give us structure and no money. It’s simple as that.”  

PDA co-director Charles Knight notes that Gen. Schwartz is playing to both sides of the aisle when he warns HASC against hollowing the force by not accepting force structure reductions called for in the White House’s FY13 budget, and then says, “Give us the money” if the Republican controlled House insists on disallowing the cuts.  Of course, Schwartz is not responsible for keeping government spending within the budget caps that Democrats and Republicans together have decided to impose on spending.  In fact, he only represents the interests of the Air Force.  Maybe Schwartz would recommend paying for those HASC plus-ups for the Air Force by cutting a ship or two from the Navy’s budget?  I am sure he’d never say that out loud, but that is one reasonable implication of his comments.

Highlights

U.S. News and World Report: 6 Reasons America Is Safer Under Obama

Larry Korb explores six reasons why President Obama has made the United States safer since taking office, including bin Laden’s death as well as the redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq.  Korb also asserts that Obama’s surge in Afghanistan has shown positive results (though some would disagree) and that the President has been able to significantly constrain Iran’s ability to advance its nuclear program.  (5/2/12)

Project on Government Oversight: A Response to the Navy's "Vigorous Defense" of the Littoral Combat Ship

A letter sent by POGO last week to the heads of the Armed Services Committees raising concerns about the troubled Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program has caused quite a stir on Capitol Hill prompting the Navy to respond with “uncharacteristic alacrity.”  As a result, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), a member of HASC, has added an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to increase reporting requirement for the LCS.  And the Chairman and Ranking Member of SASC have officially requested that GAO conduct a report on the LCS.  (5/1/12)

Foreign Policy: The Jet That Ate the Pentagon

Winslow Wheeler highlights ongoing problems with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, including its skyrocketing cost, schedule delays, and poor performance.  According to a recently released GAO report, the JSF program is expected to consume 38 percent of “future procurement funding needed,” which is “enough to fund the remaining procurement costs of the next 15 largest programs.”  (4/26/12)

Other News and Commentary

Battleland: The Pentagon’s Million-Dollar Aviation Plan

Winslow Wheeler analyzes the Pentagon’s long-term aviation plan and finds that it does not begin to address the fundamental challenges of an “aging, shrinking, less-trained force,” all at an increasing price.    (5/1/12)

DoD Buzz: Clock is ticking for F-22 upgrades, GAO says

A new GAO report raises concern about the pace of F-22 upgrades currently taking place.   GAO estimates that by the time all of the F-22s have been fully modernized, a large number of the aircraft will have already flown 20 percent of their total service lives.  (5/1/12)   

The Hill: Gen. Schwartz warns Congress on reversing Air Force cuts

Last week, the House Armed Services moved to block the Defense Department’s proposals to decommission the Global Hawk Block 30 drone fleet and make reductions in the Air National Guard.  Responding to these developments, the head of the Air Force, Gen. Norton Schwartz, warned that the quickest way to a hollow force was to maintain current force structure while providing the services with less funding.  “If you give us force structure back, give us the money, too, because the quickest way I know to a hollow force is to give us structure and no money. It’s simple as that,” Schwartz proclaimed to the audience at the Stimson Center.   (5/1/12)

Defense News: U.S. Funds May Have Helped Iraq Insurgents: Report

A report published by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has found that some of the $4 billion in funding for the Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP) likely was dispersed to insurgents and corrupt local officials.  (5/1/12)

Forbes: Recent Overseas Missile Launches Indicate Little Immediate Threat To U.S.

The Lexington Institute’s Loren Thompson analyzes the current ballistic missile threats to the United States and finds that the most threatening states that possess ballistic missile technology do not have the range or technological sophistication to threaten the United States homeland.   (5/1/12)

Washington Post: Sorting through the defense distortions

Walter Pincus points out some of the inaccuracies presented by one of Governor Mitt Romney’s key national security advisors, John Lehman.  On a recent conference call, Lehman accused the Obama Administration of proposing nuclear reductions that would bring the U.S. arsenal down to 300 weapons (which it has not) and claimed that the White House’s most recent budget submission proposed cutting defense spending by $1 trillion (which it did not).  (4/30/12)

The Hill: Defense bill in for easier ride this year

In past years, controversial provisions on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the detention of terrorist suspects has slowed passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, however, HASC Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) is optimistic that this year’s NDAA can be completed on time before the election.  But because McKeon’s bill will likely be almost $8 billion above the Senate version, reconciling the two pieces of legislation could prove difficult.  (4/29/12)

Defense News: U.S. House Aims To Reverse Defense Cuts

The administration’s FY13 budget begins the process of saving close to $500 billion from previously planned spending levels as mandated by the Budget Control Act.  Despite having voted for this law, Chairman Buck McKeon and fellow GOP members of the committee have blocked several savings proposals, including termination of the Global Hawk Block 30 drone, reductions in Abrams upgrades, and a decrease in the number of ballistic missile submarines.  (4/29/12)

National Interest: The Fog of More

Jonathan E. Hillman laments the fact that the United States has not learned the lessons of the Vietnam War, namely that throwing more money and resources at an unwinnable war is futile and distracts policymakers and the public from burgeoning problems at home.  Ultimately, Hillman recommends a rebalancing of America’s foreign policy: “Instead of hawkishness, toughness must mean resiliency: the ability to take a blow, take a breath and react accordingly. Strength must mean confidence—in our unrivaled military capabilities, the durability of our democracy, and our willingness to suffer any hardship and pay any price to defend vital U.S. interests.”  (4/30/12)

Battleland: Why To Cancel A Pentagon Procurement Program

Air Force acquisition officer, Lt. Col. Dan Ward, identifies three metrics to evaluate whether the Pentagon should proceed with a weapons system program: affordability, necessity, and efficacy.  Using these three metrics, Ward compares the proposed cancellation of the C-27J cargo plane with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and asks the question, “If the Spartan is an unaffordable luxury at $2B, it does beg the question of the JSF’s affordability at $395B. We can afford the expensive one but not the cheap one?”  (4/27/12)

Early Warning Blog: The Sound Of Future Base Closures Getting Louder And Closer

Despite serious Congressional opposition to a new round of domestic base closures, Daniel Goure asserts that there is serious excess in domestic military infrastructure.  Goure predicts, “What are only noises at this moment will soon become a loud and incessant drumbeat for reducing the Pentagon’s infrastructure and particularly cutting the number of depots and maintenance centers.”  (4/27/12)

Defense News: Battle Over Nukes, Missile Defense Takes Shape in U.S. Congress

Although the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces only met for 10 minutes to mark up its portion of the National Defense Authorization Act, statements submitted for the record shine light on potential upcoming conflicts over nuclear weapons and missile defense.  In her submitted statement, ranking member Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) raised concerns about increases in funding for nuclear weapons and the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile defense program.  (4/26/12)

Reports

           

Government Accountability Office: F-22A Modernization Program Faces Cost, Technical, and Sustainment Risks (5/2/12)

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR): Quarterly Report to United States Congress (4/30/12)

Congressional Research Service: Budget “Sequestration” and Selected Program Exemptions and Special Rules (4/27/12)

Congressional Budget Office: FY 2013 Senate Current Status of Discretionary Appropriations (4/26/12)

Congressional Research Service: Cybersecurity: Authoritative Reports and Resources (4/26/12)

Congressional Research Service: Foreign Assistance to North Korea (4/26/12)

Department of Defense: Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan: United States Plan for Sustaining the Afghanistan National Security Forces  (April, 2012)

RAND Corporation: U.S. Military Information Operations in Afghanistan Effectiveness of Psychological Operations 2001–2010  (April, 202)

Government Accountability Office: Comparison of F-22A and Legacy Fighter Modernization Programs  (4/26/12)

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: Americans Tackle the Debt Assessing the Results of CRFB’s Budget Simulator (4/26/12)

Congressional Research Service: The Budget Control Act of 2011: The Effects on Spending and the Budget Deficit When the Automatic Spending Cuts Are Implemented (4/26/12)

Department of Defense: Annual Aviation Inventory and Funding Plan Fiscal Years 2013-2042 (March, 2012)