Data point: Four think thanks here released results of their own version of the SCMR that raised serious questions about the Pentagon’s reluctance to consider deeper cuts to readiness funding, as well as the country’s long-term ability to buy the advanced weapons our troops need to make the other guy die when we go to war. For example, the Long Range Strike bomber program may be cut under one of the options developed for the SCMR, Todd Harrison told reporters yesterday evening. If you look at their chart above, you’ll see where LRS gets whacked.

The five think tankers at yesterday evening’s event broadly agreed that the services and senior Pentagon leadership — deeply concerned about decaying readiness and the possibility of a hollow force — should consider much deeper cuts to readiness funding to preserve programs like LRS.

“We took the Willie Sutton approach,” Eaglen said. “We went where the money is, which DoD is still not willing to do.” Her colleagues nodded their agreement. One of the areas the Pentagon left largely untouched is the 800,000-strong civilian workforce, which Eaglen and her colleagues think can be a rich source of savings. But the Pentagon first has to know much more about the structure, composition and locations of the workforce. “They really told us, we really have no visibility about them,” she said.

After all, the analysts argue, readiness can be fixed relatively quickly through the simple application of cash and training. Research and development — let alone actual procurement — of advanced weapons often takes 10-15 years to get something workable.

Taking more money out of readiness can also be accomplished through application of concepts like tiered readiness. One of the ideas Harrison and other tossed around was tiered readiness not just inside each service but across the military — something many believe already happens in practice: For example, the Marines designate themselves as the nation’s 911 force; Special Operations troops are often in conflict zones before the conventional military arrives.

Hagel and his coterie have what the analysts agreed was a grand chance to rebuild the United States military, but it’s a fairly narrow window, argued David Berteau of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Given the fiscal guidance required in nine months, Berteau said the Pentagon has that much time to make major decisions in light of sequestration, which no one at CSBA thought was going away any time soon.