Does anyone now inside or outside of government do a credible analysis of the real threats, the strategy and its cost to address them, a cushion for unexpected contingencies (Ukraine), retiree health and pension benefits, maintenance costs, etc., to determine what an adequate defense budget should be? And should we return to the depot system since we don’t build enough weapons and weapons systems to justify the overhead we pay industry on the false pretense we need and have competition. When the government is a monopsony and sets the price and volume, the notion of competition is laughable—and an unnecessary expense.
The last such exercise of any merit that I have seen was done by a working group published through CATO about 10 years ago. The other is the Sustainable Defense report done under the auspices of the Center for International Policy. There are plenty of such exercises justifying more spending - CSIS, CNAS, etc.
Your clarity is informative and helpful. We also agree on your "Top Gun" comments. Thank you.
Gordon,
Does anyone now inside or outside of government do a credible analysis of the real threats, the strategy and its cost to address them, a cushion for unexpected contingencies (Ukraine), retiree health and pension benefits, maintenance costs, etc., to determine what an adequate defense budget should be? And should we return to the depot system since we don’t build enough weapons and weapons systems to justify the overhead we pay industry on the false pretense we need and have competition. When the government is a monopsony and sets the price and volume, the notion of competition is laughable—and an unnecessary expense.
Stan
The last such exercise of any merit that I have seen was done by a working group published through CATO about 10 years ago. The other is the Sustainable Defense report done under the auspices of the Center for International Policy. There are plenty of such exercises justifying more spending - CSIS, CNAS, etc.
Thanks. Just curious if we'll ever have a budget based on strategy instead of a strategy based on budget. Guess not.
Nope. That's the short answer.