Defense Budget Alert

Congressional appropriators claim the Air Force is making a habit of transferring large sums of Overseas Contingency Operations flying hour funding to pay for other OCO needs, writing in a report accompanying their compromise fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill that the service has shifted nearly $1.3 billion in the last two years.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has promised major reforms and bold investments, recently said he will soon order U.S. troops be moved from locations of "low-intensity conflict" to areas of "great power competition" in line with the National Defense Strategy, which calls for pivoting away from the Middle East and toward China and Russia.

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- The Marine Corps plans to commence early next year a major realignment of its investment accounts, building a new five-year budget plan that sheds select weapons acquired during land operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and invests in capabilities optimized for expeditionary fights against technologically sophisticated adversaries such as China and Russia.

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- Defense Secretary Mark Esper called on Defense Department leaders to make “tough choices” in cutting legacy systems and investing in new technologies as DOD eyes the end-game in building its fiscal year 2021 budget request. 

A Marine Corps general overseeing weapons acquisition said today he is skeptical his service would receive program waivers under the current continuing resolution.

Lawmakers negotiating the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill have decided it would be best for congressional appropriators to address President Trump's use of Pentagon funds to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border without the consent of Congress, though the authorization bill remains stalled over other issues.

Congress' inability to pass a fiscal year 2020 budget is delaying the start of a Pentagon study that could change the way defense contractors have been paid for years.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Thursday the Army has already felt the effects of the first continuing resolution that started Oct. 1, previously asking commands to reduce spending by 2%.

Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper told reporters today he expects the service will have a difficult time defending its fiscal year 2021 budget request, largely because it recommends shifting billions of dollars from legacy platforms to a digital infrastructure Congress may not be ready to embrace.