The SCT simplifies the complex defense budgeting process for a strategic-level exercise, but the difficulties and tradeoffs that teams struggled with were realistic, and the resulting insights are instructive for policymakers in Congress, the Defense Department, and the White House. [...] It lacked the ability to respond to the range of mili- tary contingencies that the United States could reasonably expect to face and was too small and brittle to respond to unforeseen changes. [...] Cuts to the active compo- nent would force a greater reliance on the reserves in the near-term, without the guarantee that the joint force can gain back active-duty personnel in the medium-term. [...] To implement the budget cut, all teams chose to accept risk in the short-term and greatly reduce planned buys, hoping the joint force could recuperate in the medium-term by buying back 10 CSBA | AMERICA’S STRATEGIC CHOICES divested platforms. [...] This increase reflects the level of resources that former Secretary of Defense Mattis, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dunford, and the members of the congres- sionally-mandated National Defense Strategy Commission believe is required to fund fully the existing National Defense Strategy.
- Pages
- 16
- Published in
- United States of America
