The Pentagon Labyrinth

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Essay 8 “Decoding the Defense Budget” by Winslow T. Wheeler Many in Congress and journalism hold some commonly accepted assumptions about defense spending. Among them are that the Department of Defense budget represents U.S. national security spending, that senior DOD officials can be relied on to fairly and honestly interpret the Pentagon budget, that Pentagon numbers for the cost of programs and policies are valid and authoritative, and that more money means more defense. Perhaps, these presumptions are better characterized as hypotheses to be tested. Doing so can yield a fuller understanding of the defense budget. The first question is – What Is the Defense Budget? Each year in early February, the Pentagon releases what is invariably called the “defense budget” in press articles. The numbers presented do not address all forms of defense spending; they do not even address all forms of Pentagon spending. For example, a table included in the Pentagon’s press materials for the 2011 budget shows the “base” (non-Iraq or -Afghanistan war) budget request at $549.8 billion. 1 The materials presented by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are more complete. The 2011 budget request for “base” (nonwar) Pentagon spending was $554.1 billion. The additional $4.3 billion was for “mandatory” spending (also known as “entitlement” spending) mostly for personnel programs. The number the Pentagon released was for the “discretionary” (new annual appropriations) spending. The difference may be a minor one in this case, but it can be significant; in past years Congress has added scores of billions in new mandatory spending for military healthcare, and retirement and survivors’ benefits. 1 See page 8 of the material presented to the press on Feb. 1, 2010 purporting to describe the request for the 2011 DOD budget at http://www.defense.gov/news/FINAL%20PRESS%20RELEASE%20v3%20%201.pdf.
The more complete exposition of DOD budgets in the OMB materials is not easy to find; it is usually buried in the “Supplemental Materials” to a volume called “Analytical Perspectives” that is released each year the same day the Pentagon releases its version of its budget. Unfortunately, the DOD press corps roundly ignores the more complete OMB materials. To be better informed in future years, track it down. 2 The same OMB table yields other important information: the additional DOD spending requested for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not just for the budget year but also for succeeding “out-years,” and the non-DOD spending for what OMB calls the “National Defense Budget Function,” which includes nuclear weapons, the Selective Service, the National Defense Stockpile of minerals and commodities, and more. The total for 2011 comes to $738.7 billion in “total” (discretionary plus mandatory) spending. The same table also yields the budget amounts for the departments of Homeland (domestic) Security, State (for economic and weapons aid and other national security programs) and Veterans Affairs (for what might be called the human cost of wars). Each is clearly related to national security or “defense,” writ broadly. Finally, if you know where to look near the bottom of this long OMB table, you can find some additional spending in the Treasury Department for military retirement and healthcare, and finally the data needed to make a calculation of how much of the 2011 payment for interest on the national debt can fairly be attributed to the Pentagon. The results of this more complete compilation of the president’s 2011 budget request for “defense” is summarized in Table 1 below. 2 Find the 2011 version of this OMB table at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/32_1.pdf . Winslow T. Wheeler | 87
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The World Security Institute’s Ce
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About the Authors Thomas Christie b
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security issues for members of the
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Table of Contents PREFACE . . . . .
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Preface This handbook aims to help
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xx | The Pentagon Labyrinth and for
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2 | Why is This Handbook Necessary?
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10 | Why is This Handbook Necessary
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Essay 2 “Penetrating the Pentagon
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14 | Penetrating the Pentagon of a
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16 | Penetrating the Pentagon years
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18 | Penetrating the Pentagon Washi
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20 | Penetrating the Pentagon Back
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22 | Penetrating the Pentagon weapo
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24 | Learning About Defense In the
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26 | Learning About Defense with ou
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Essay 4 “Congressional Oversight:
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Page 114 and 115: 102 | Evaluating Weapons: Sorting t
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The Pentagon Labyrinth aims to help
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The Pentagon Labyrinth

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