Stop the Presses: Putting Flashy Defense Spending Sound Bites in Context
Baker Spring /
In a report titled, “Long-Term Implications of the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Budget,” the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) points out that this year’s Department of Defense (DoD) budget will exceed the real dollar equivalent of the Pentagon’s budget at the time of the defense build-up in the 1980s. Specifically, CBO calculates that this year’s defense budget will total $664 billion, compared to roughly $500 billion in 1985 — an increase of one-third.
This comparison is no surprise to Congress or the American people because the U.S. is currently fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 1985, a military build-up was required because the military had become a hollow force after Vietnam. A hollow force lacks the resources to do three critical tasks at once:
• Provide trained and ready forces,
• Support ongoing operations, and
• Modernize its equipment and platforms.