CIAO DATE: 12/2011
October 2011
Project on Defense Alternatives
The sharp rise in the Pentagon’s base budget since 1998 (46% in real terms) is substantially due to strategic choice, not security requirements, per se. It reflects a refusal to set priorities as well as a move away from the traditional goals of military deterrence, containment, and defense to more ambitious ends: threat prevention, command of the commons, and the transformation of the global security environment. The geographic scope of routine US military activity also has expanded.
Resource link: Going for Broke: The Budgetary Consequences of Current US Defense Strategy. [PDF] - 254K