Publication Date: November 1, 2023
America is facing the most dangerous and complex geopolitical environment since World War II. Ensuring the adequacy and flexibility of our defense budget is essential to keeping our nation secure and the world safe for global democracy. Defense Budgeting for a Safer World brings together the ideas, perspectives, and solutions of America’s most renowned experts on national security and the defense budget.
The volume originates from a conference held at the Hoover Institution in early 2023 and reflects the presentations, discussions, and debates among military and civilian leaders. Drawing on their remarkable experience leading the Pentagon, the services, Congress, and academe, these experts lay out the key priorities in reforming, realigning, and rightsizing the budget amid current challenges. Several topics converge: national security threats, strategy, technology and innovation, personnel, reform options, and the politics of the defense budget. This unique compilation covers each of the major areas of debate in forging and sustaining a defense budget capable of supporting the nation’s security needs.
Foreword
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Introduction
Michael J. Boskin, John N. Rader, and Kiran Sridhar
1. The Geopolitical, Military, and Fiscal Context for Defense Budget Reform
Michael J. Boskin, John N. Rader, and Kiran Sridhar
Part 1: National Security Threats
2. The Military Challenge of the People’s Republic of China
Oriana Skylar Mastro
3. I Spy a Problem: Transforming US Intelligence Agencies for the Technological Age
Amy Zegart
4. Terrorism and Counterterrorism in an Era of Great-Power Competition
Joseph H. Felter
Presentations and Discussion
General Keith Alexander, Admiral Gary Roughead, and Michael McFaul Moderated by Commander Bart D’Angelo
Part 2: National Security Strategy
5. The International Environment and Threat Backdrop
Michael O’Hanlon
6. America’s Operational Imperatives: Some Budgetary Considerations
Nadia Schadlow
Presentations and Discussion
Michael O’Hanlon, Admiral Mike Mullen, and H.R. McMaster Moderated by Lieutenant Colonel James M. Harrington
Part 3: Technology, Innovation, Procurement
7. Investing in Emerging Technologies: Lessons from Unmanned Systems
Jacquelyn Schneider
8. Our Military Debt Crisis: Preserving America’s Strategic Solvency
James M. Cunningham
9. A Requiem for Defense Innovation? Ukraine, the Pentagon’s Innovator’s Dilemma, and Why the United States Risks Strategic Surprise
Christopher Kirchhoff
10. Department of Defense Budgeting: The Unrecognized National Security Threat
Michael Brown
Presentations and Discussion
Michèle Flournoy, Eric Fanning, and Raj Shah Moderated by Kiran Sridhar
Featured Discussion
Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary Leon Panetta Moderated by Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Part 4: Personnel and Talent Recruitment and Retention
11. The Challenges of the People Portfolio
David S. C. Chu
12. Cyber: From Bleeding Talent to Bleeding Edge
Vishaal “V8” Hariprasad and Casey “Waldo” Miller
13. The All-Volunteer Force at Fifty: Productivity, Peace, and (Unmet) Potential
Tim Kane
Presentations and Discussion
David S. C. Chu and Mackenzie Eaglen Moderated by Captain Corey Braddock
Part 5: Reform Recommendations and Budget Implications
14. Keeping the Pentagon Running: Commonsense Changes to Defense Budgeting
Mackenzie Eaglen
15. Reforming Defense Budgeting
Elaine McCusker
16. US Defense Budget Reform: Historical Perspectives (1940s–2020s)
Mark R. Wilson
17. Go Big or Go Home
Roger Zakheim
Presentations and Discussion
Admiral Gary Roughead, Ellen Lord, and David L. Norquist Moderated by Michael J. Boskin
Part 6: The View from Congress: National Security and the Budget
18. Can We Buy Like We Talk?
Mac Thornberry
Presentation and Discussion
Mac Thornberry
Moderated by John N. Rader
