Defense Procurement by Paralysis

The new administration will face a crisis in U.S. national security planning, programming, and budgeting. This crisis has accelerated sharply over the last eight years and requires a broad restructuring of the U.S. national security effort, defense spending, military manpower, procurement, and readiness. The combined cost of war, steadily rising military manpower costs, the underfunding of operations and maintenance, and a procurement crisis in every service will force the next administration to reshape almost every aspect of current defense plans, programs, and budgets.

A new analysis by Hans Ulrich Kaeser and Anthony Cordesman at the Burke Chair shows that the outgoing administration will not only leave its successor with two wars and a crisis in military procurement; it will also leave behind the task of awarding contracts possibly worth $70 billion. These contracts come on top of current procurement and force modernization plans that totaled over $183 billion in the FY2009 Defense Budget.