Updates

CSBA Releases Analysis of the FY 2011 Defense Budget

June 29, 2010: CSBA hosted a press briefing on the release of its Analysis of the FY 2011 Defense Budget by Todd Harrison.

CSBA President Andrew Krepinevich discussed the potential security risks the US is likely to face in the future and the need to employ strategy to decide where to invest funds in a fiscally constrained environment.

CSBA Budget Studies Fellow Todd Harrison discussed the FY 2011 defense budget noting rather than making significant changes, this budget continues and consolidates the reforms and rebalancing initiated in the FY 2010 budget.

CSBA Releases AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational Concept

May 18 , 2010:The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments today released its latest report: AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational Concept, by Jan van Tol with Mark Gunzinger, Andrew Krepinevich and Jim Thomas.

The report provides a detailed assessment of how potent anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities will likely make traditional US power projection operations increasingly risky and costly in the future. Using the Western Pacific Theater of Operations (WPTO) as the most stressing potential case, it explores how the United States and its allies could employ a candidate AirSea Battle operational concept to maintain a stable military balance in the Western Pacific.

(download press release) (download slides)

Gates Channels CSBA's Big Brains Warning Navy Ships Risk Becoming Wasting Assets

May 4 , 2010: Article by Greg Grant appeared in Defense Tech

"...when it comes to leaving a lasting mark on the future size and shape of the military, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made clear in his speech yesterday at the Navy League’s annual conference that the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) is the real brain trust.

To continue reading (article)

CSBA Helps Reporters Prepare for QDR and Budget Roll-Out

January 26, 2010: CSBA hosted its 26th Annual Pre Budget Press Briefing in advance of the Defense Department's February 1 release of the FY 2011 Defense Budget request and the QDR 2010 submission to Congress (video webcast).

CSBA Budget Studies Fellow Todd Harrison discussed defense dollars allocation over the past decade and highlighted budgetary and programmatic issues that would complicate DoD’s planning over the Future Year Defense Program. (Todd’s full analysis)

Estimating Funding for Afghanistan

By Todd Harrison

December 1, 2009:  The deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan over the coming months will require additional funding in Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10). It is difficult to precisely estimate the cost that will be incurred by the deployment due to a variety of factors including the composition of the forces deployed and the specific mission they are given. The adversary also has a say in determining the operational tempo of our forces, and thus the costs incurred in terms of such items as fuel, ammunition, and equipment. Still, historical trends in the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can provide a useful guide for making such an estimate. (more)

CSBA News Archives

Latest from CSBA

September 14, 2010: CSBA will release a new report Sustaining America’s Strategic Advantage in Long-Range Strike at a congressional conference.The event will take place from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in 2212 Rayburn House Office Building.

CSBA Senior Fellow Mark Gunzinger will share the report’s conclusions, including his assessment of the current long-range strike capability shortfalls, discussion of an alternative framework for evaluating the next long-range strike family of systems, and options for prioritizing DoD investments over time to meet these shortfalls.

The presentation will be followed by an extended Q&A Session. CSBA President Andrew Krepinevich will preside over the conference.

Participation is limited. Advanced registration required. RSVP to rsvp@csbaonline.org

July 20, 2010: Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, Defense Budget Studies testified before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs on Rethinking our Defense Budget: Achieving National Security through Sustainable Spending (testimony text) (hearing details).

June 15, 2010: CSBA released National Security Strategy in an Era of Growing Challenges and Resource Constraints, by Andrew Krepinevich.

This perspective argues that in order to resolve the mismatch between the defense program and resources available to sustain it, the Obama Administration needs to employ strategy in order to identify areas where the United States should scale back or divest itself of commitments, and where it will accept an increase in risk in protecting vital national interests.

May 24, 2010: CSBA released The New Guns Versus Butter Debate, by Todd Harrison.

The perspective argues that when the defense budget ceases to grow above the rate of inflation, the Department will have to make difficult choices between competing priorities, such as personnel and equipment. This is the new guns versus butter debate—a choice between taking care of people who serve or the equipment they need to fight and prevail in current and future conflicts.

April 23, 2010: CSBA released The Logic and Limitations of the Nuclear Posture Review, by Evan Montgomery. The perspective argues that the measures advocated in the NPR may not support its goal of slowing nuclear proliferation.

April 2, 2010: CSBA released two backgrounders:

• Meeting the Challenge of a Proliferated World, by Andrew Krepinevich, and

• Understanding the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism, by Evan Montgomery.

Timed to coincide with the Nuclear Posture Review that will shape long term US nuclear capabilities and strategy, the backgrounders summarize the key findings of two major reports in CSBA’s Strategy for the Long Haul Series.

“These Backgrounders address a number of issues that are likely to be raised in the upcoming Nuclear Posture Review, and will serve as a helpful guide for reporters, congressional staff, and others interested in assessing that document and its implications,” said CSBA Research Fellow Evan Montgomery.

March 3, 2010: CSBA released a new report Littoral Combat Ship: An Examination of Its Possible Concepts of Operations by Martin Murphy.

The report considers the most effective uses of the Littoral Combat Ships and offers possible inputs on the ships’ projected missions, ways in which they could be employed, their distinguishing characteristics and additional missions could they accomplish with certain modifications. (download report)

February 19, 2010: CSBA released a new report: Why AirSea Battle? by Andrew Krepinevich.

The report discusses the critical role that the US military’s power-projection operations have played in providing for the security of the United States and its allies since World War II. The report then goes on to describe military modernization efforts by China and Iran designed to deny the United States the ability to sustain military forces in the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf. It concludes by arguing that a new Air Force-Navy AirSea Battle concept is needed to preserve a stable military balance in these two primarily aerospace and maritime domains.

“The US must adapt its power projection forces—along with corresponding changes in its military capabilities and force structure—or face the prospect of losing military access in these two key regions,” concludes Krepinevich. “The importance and urgency of finding a new approach is reinforced by the priority afforded to AirSea battle in the Quadrennial Defense Review released on February 1st.” (download report)

February 1, 2010: CSBA released update Few Surprises in the FY 2011 Defense Budget Request by Senior Defense Budget Studies Fellow Todd Harrison.

Harrison sees no signals for a significant change in direction for the defense program in the FY 2011 defense budget request. The changes that are contained in the budget, such as increased funding for unmanned aerial systems and special operations forces and termination of a few programs, are consistent with but do not go much further than the major changes announced by Secretary Gates in April 2009. (download update)

February 1, 2010: CSBA released backgrounder The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review:An Initial Assessment by Mark Gunzinger and Jim Thomas. The backgrounder looks at the QDR’s strategy and force planning dimensions. (download backgrounder)

January 20, 2010: The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments welcomes Mark A. Gunzinger as the Center’s new Senior Fellow.

“Mr. Gunzinger brings nearly 35 years of strategic and force planning experience across the Department of Defense, as well as extensive operational expertise in the Air Force. Given his deep understanding national security policy, Mark will be an extraordinary asset in helping to inform the public debate on defense,” said CSBA’s President Andrew Krepinevich. (press release)

January 11, 2010: CSBA released Defense Planning for the Long Haul: Scenarios, Operational Concepts, and the Future Security Environment by Evan Montgomery. The report translates the principal strategic challenges the United States is likely to confront into a set of plausible scenarios. (press release)(report)

January 8, 2010: CSBA announced the appointment of five new members to its Board of Directors: Pete du Pont, Vic H. Fazio, Nelson M. Ford, James J. Shinn and Laurence Zuriff. (press release)

December 10, 2009: CSBA Distinguished Fellow Eric Edelman is selected to serve on an independent panel to assess the Defense Department’s Quadrennial Defense Review. (official press release)

November 17, 2009: CSBA President Andrew Krepinevich testified before House Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Afghanistan Strategy. (video) (testimony text) (hearing details)

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