March 07, 2022
Pentagon needs a six-pillar foundation
The defense budgeting system is more reflective of Soviet-era bureaucratic structures than the vibrant U.S. capitalist model. As illuminated in multiple studies and papers, this antiquated budget system has produced a Joint Force that is rapidly losing its military advantage to advanced peer rivals like China and Russia. More specifically, the current Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) system isn’t timely, strategically aligned, responsive, or transparent.
Currently, it takes up to three years for DOD to generate the annual defense budget and for Congress to review and appropriate funding. This prevents DOD from focusing investments on new priorities, countering emerging threats, or taking advantage of innovative technologies.
The current PPBE system attempts to reconcile Combatant Command “fight tonight” needs with strategic, longer-term investments — but more often fails at both.
Defense budgets are often misaligned with strategy, with readiness and capacity being prioritized over much needed modernization.
The system constrains DOD’s ability to maximize resources and prevent the “valley of death” syndrome by requiring baselined acquisition programs, over-prescribing discrete efforts, using regimented research budget activities, employing multiple appropriations, and applying numerous procurement restrictions.
And finally, it incentivizes budgetary processes that are overly opaque, such as unnecessarily classifying information necessary for decision-making. And DOD communicates with Congress using heavily scripted testimony, responses, and briefings — often to the great frustration of congressional staffs.
Read the full article from The Hill.
More from CNAS
-
Behind the Front Line
Reports
This report considers the near-term opportunities that exist for integrating agentic artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities across the Department of War. While integration ...
By Josh Wallin & Carlton Haelig
-
Sharper | Securing America’s Defense Industrial Base
Commentary
Six months of war with Iran has depleted America’s munitions capacity, leaving stockpiles of interceptors and precision weapons dangerously low and demand above the replacemen...
By Cadence Barker & Charles Horn
-
Bloomberg Economics' Becca Wasser and Dina Esfandiary Talk Iran Conflict
Podcast
With President Trump set to meet Gulf leaders on the sidelines of this week’s UN meetings, the Iran war is likely to take center stage. Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia and risi...
By Becca Wasser
-
Big Take: The Real Costs of the U.S. Iran Blockade
Congressional Testimony
On today's Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Global Defense Editor Gerry Doyle and Bloomberg Economics Defense Lead and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Securi...
By Becca Wasser
