Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense
Stimson's Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program vision is to improve American national security at a lower cost to the American people. We seek to strengthen the capacity and capability of the US government to frame, resource, and execute foreign and national security policies and programs.
We provide pragmatic options for strengthening civilian foreign policy institutions and providing discipline and focus to defense institutions, with a particular focus on human and fiscal resources, structures, and planning and budgeting processes, and authorities. We communicate our analyses and proposals to policymakers, the media, and interested organizations working in the foreign policy and national security fields.
Our blog, The Will and the Wallet, is dedicated to providing insightful research and analysis on the budgets, authorities, institutions, structures, and processes that drive US foreign affairs and defense policy.
Current Research
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Managing the Military More Efficiently: Potential Savings Separate from Strategy
In an effort to help policymakers determine how to reduce the Defense Department budget without cutting essential combat capabilities, a Stimson Center report issued today compiles options and recommendations proposed by official groups and agencies that would save nearly $1 trillion over 10 years.
The report does not endorse any specific cuts. It acknowledges that some of the
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The Pentagon as Pitchman: Perception and Reality of Public Diplomacy
The Department of Defense has not institutionalized public diplomacy-like activities throughout its components, belying both hopes that it would internalize these broader concerns into its everyday activities, and fears that the Department's great scale would overwhelm all other US public diplomacy. But the evolving, post Goldwater-Nichols role of the combatant commands and
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A New US Defense Strategy for a New Era: Military Superiority, Agility, and Efficiency
Click here for a briefing on the report
The changing global security landscape and worsening fiscal outlook demand significant adjustments to national security strategy and budgeting, according to an extensive, year-long study released today by Stimson: A New US Defense Strategy for a New Era.
The report is the work of an independent task force of experts - the
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Diplomacy in a Time of Scarcity
The United States faces unprecedented challenges in conducting diplomacy and development as it responds to the residuals of three wars and a constantly changing global environment. At the same time, the outlook for the entire federal budget has changed dramatically. A new era requiring increased fiscal austerity has emerged, and it threatens to not only end
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What We Bought: Defense Procurement from FY01 to FY10
Prevailing wisdom on defense spending in the past decade asserts that despite the large amount spent, we did not modernize our weapons systems. In reality, the military services did take advantage of increased procurement funding to modernize their forces, although not always as expected. This paper analyzes procurement funding of the last decade and demonstrates that though
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Videos
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November 15, 2012
A New US Defense Strategy for a New Era -
June 05, 2012
Resolving Ambiguity: Costing Nuclear Weapons Report Release -
May 10, 2012
Defense Budget Survey Release Event
Experts
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Gordon Adams Distinguished Fellow
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Russell Rumbaugh Director
Staff
- Matthew Leatherman Research Analyst