National Security Spending

Latest Research

January 04, 2013 / By Russell Rumbaugh, Matthew Leatherman
The Pentagon as Pitchman: Perceptions and Reality of Public Diplomacy

Opinions on US public diplomacy and the Defense Department’s relationship to it are fairly polarized. Some fear that the Department of Defense drastically expanded efforts to influence

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June 05, 2012 / By Russell Rumbaugh, Nathan Cohn
Resolving Ambiguity: Costing Nuclear Weapons

As the defense budget comes under increasing pressure, many have suggested nuclear weapons as an area for savings. But estimates of what the United States spends on nuclear weapons

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February 13, 2012 / By Russell Rumbaugh
The Reality of the Defense Builddown

The President released the FY13 defense budget request today, and the total amount is $5B less than the FY12 appropriated levels. We are certainly into the defense builddown. But we

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October 28, 2011 / By Russell Rumbaugh
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

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October 28, 2011 / By Russell Rumbaugh
What We Bought: Defense Procurement from FY01 to FY10

As the congressional super committee grapples with the problem of lowering the nation’s deficit and controlling its debt, defense budgets have taken center stage.  Some have argued that

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