Defence and Security

Defense Budget Resources 2011

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Defense Budget Resources 2011

It compiles recent PDA material as well as critical analysis and opinion from 30 analysts and policy centers, representing the skeptical end of the spectrum

By PDA USA.

Trillions to Burn? A Quick Guide to the Surge in Pentagon Spending

- Trillions to Burn? A Quick Guide to the Surge in Pentagon Spending

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by Carl Conetta,It's a quick read with nine charts that explore the rise in US defense spending now over 700 billion and identify several "cost drivers." The document also puts the defense budget into the broader fiscal context of deficits and debt.

By PDA USA.

The President's Dilemma: Debt, Deficits, and Defense Spending

The President's Dilemma: Debt, Deficits, and Defense Spending

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by Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #45, 18 January 2010.The United States faces Reagan-level deficit spending and greatly increased debt. Can the president's program of high defense spending and increased non-defense spending survive? What about other urgent national priorities? This brief report puts recent and planned defense spending into the context of emerging fiscal constraints and President Obama's broader program of change.

By PDA USA.

An Undisciplined Defense: Understanding the $2 Trillion Surge in US Defense Spending.

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An Undisciplined Defense: Understanding the $2 Trillion Surge in US Defense Spending

PDA Briefing Report #20, 18 January 2010. 75 pages including Executive Summary and 21 charts and tables.The report analyzes the unprecedented post-1998 rise in defense spending and the return to Cold War budget levels. The causes include overly ambitious US military strategy and goals; weakness of reform and transformation efforts; failure to make hard choices in acquisition; and conduct of wars ill-suited to the US military. Also examined: the surge in military construction and the expanded role of private contractors.

By PDA USA.

It's time to scrutinize the Pentagon

It's time to scrutinize the Pentagon

There is nothing about the absolute size of a half-trillion dollar Pentagon budget that should concern Americans if that expenditure is necessary for the defense of the nation and if, as a nation, we are rich enough to foot the bill. But in the shadow of 9/11 and subsequent wars, that budget has been exempted from the type of scrutiny it received during the 1990s. Still, it constitutes so much of our discretionary spending and has contributed so much to our deficit spending that we can no longer afford to look the other way.

By PDA USA.

Re-Envisioning Defense - An Agenda for US Policy Debate and Transition.

Re-Envisioning Defense - An Agenda for US Policy Debate and Transition

December 2008. Relevant to the "post-Bush" policy debate in the UNited States, the report outlines 25 problem areas in US defense policy and three "core issues" that touch on them all

Forceful Engagement: Rethinking the Role of Military Power in US Global Policy

Forceful Engagement: Rethinking the Role of Military Power in US Global Policy.

December 2008. The US has been using its armed forces beyond the limit of their utility. The result is not just diminishing returns, but negative ones..

cul de Sac: 9/11 and the Paradox of American Power

Cul de Sac: 9/11 and the Paradox of American Power

PDA Research Monograph #13, 05 February 2008. Post-Cold War US security policy evinces a disturbing paradox: it has been delivering less and less security at ever increasing cost. The reasons reside not in the differences between the Bush and Clinton administration, but in their points of similarity.

A Prisoner to Primacy

A Prisoner to Primacy

PDA Briefing Memo #43, 05 February 2008. The United States is entering a period of policy transition, but there is a dearth of new thinking regarding security policy. The debate remains paralyzed by 9/11 and mesmerized by military primacy. Progress depends on rethinking the role of force.

America Speaks Out: Is the United States Spending Too Much on Defense?

By Carl Conetta, PDA Briefing Memo #41, 26 March 2007. Today, the United States is responsible for half of total world military spending. A recent Gallup poll shows that Americans are beginning to have second thoughts.

By Project on Defense Alternatives , US.