June 24, 2020
The Bottom Line
Although lawmakers and the public frequently debate the size of the U.S. defense budget, a fundamental question usually receives less attention: What does U.S. military spending say about America's national security priorities? Expert Susanna V. Blume explains how U.S. strategic principles should drive key decisions in defense spending.
Learn more:
Defense
Building the World’s Biggest Budget
What do the Pentagon's decisions about military spending say about our priorities as a nation? What goes into the DoD's $700 billion budget each year? Former Pentagon official...
Defense
What Congress Should Do with the 2020 Defense Budget
Summary There are many things that the administration’s 2020 defense budget request gets right. However, the proposal remains too focused on both the size of the joint force a...
Defense
Dear Pentagon: It’s Not How Big Your Budget Is. It’s How You Use It.
Over the past two months, unusually public negotiations between the White House and the U.S. Department of Defense on the 2020 defense budget request have bounced from $733 bi...
Defense
Rising to the China Challenge
The United States and China are locked in strategic competition over the future of the Indo-Pacific—the most populous, dynamic, and consequential region in the world....
Defense
Make Good Choices, DoD
In a new report, Susanna V. Blume and Molly Parrish offer a deep dive into how the U.S. Department of Defense makes decisions about what the U.S. military needs, what to buy a...
Defense
Strategy to Ask
Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan promised a “masterpiece” for 2020. The critical question this report asks is: Has he made good on that promise?...
More from CNAS
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It’s Time for the Pentagon To Take Data Principles More Seriously
Commentary
Defense leaders should create the policies, processes, and programs to turn data into useful information quickly and accurately....
By Robert O. Work & Tara Murphy Dougherty
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A Deadly Game: East China Sea Crisis 2030
Video
On July 22, 2020, audience members played along as the CNAS Defense team and leading experts conducted a virtual wargame in the year 2030, exploring command and information co...
By Richard Fontaine, Susanna V. Blume, Shai Korman, Chris Dougherty, Becca Wasser, Dr. ED McGrady, Elizabeth Rosenberg, Martijn Rasser, Kara Frederick, Bryan Walsh, LTG Anthony R. "Tony" Ierardi, USA (Ret.), Sarah Mineiro & Eric Heginbotham
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Updates on defense appropriations for 2021
Video
Susanna Blume, Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense Program at CNAS, provides updates on the House Appropriation Committee’s Defense spending bill for fiscal 2021 and its...
By Susanna V. Blume
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Investing in Great-Power Competition
Reports
Executive Summary This report asks whether the 2021 U.S. defense budget request is aligned with the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) in selecting priority capability inves...
By Susanna V. Blume & Molly Parrish
