Defense Budget Alert

The White House Office of Management and Budget is projecting essentially flat annual budgets for the Pentagon over the next five years, well below the 3%-5% growth above inflation Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the military will need every year to reorient itself toward China and Russia.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said today the Pentagon, on the heels of several spending increases granted by Congress, must "brace" itself for a stagnant budget, though he wants to get on track to 3%-5% annual growth in the coming years.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein today declined an opportunity to make a case for his service to have a bigger share of the Defense Department budget topline, despite claims in recent weeks from Navy and Army leadership that their respective services require more than the standard one-third allotment.

Navy officials are wrestling with increased pressure to achieve a 355-ship fleet while facing a flattening defense topline.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said this week the Army gets a smaller slice of the spending pie than the other services, contributing to a public discussion by service leaders about who deserves more funding.

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.