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Aligning the Pentagon Budget with Strategy

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Posted: March 28th, 2017

By Todd Harrison

Todd Harrison is the director of the Aerospace Security Project and the director of Defense Budget Analysis at CSIS.  Harrison joined CSIS from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, where he was a senior fellow for defense budget studies. He previously worked at Booz Allen Hamilton where he consulted for the Air Force on satellite communications systems and supported a variety of other clients evaluating the performance of acquisition programs. Prior to Booz Allen, he worked for a small startup (AeroAstro Inc.) developing advanced space technologies and as a management consultant at Diamond Cluster International. 

The United States has been at war for 15 years, and at the same time, it has attempted to modernize and maintain readiness. President Donald Trump has made restoring the military a key policy goal, and his recent budget proposal intends to increase the size of the military. The proposal has been controversial, with some claiming the increase is too costly and others maintaining it will do very little to restore American power. The Cipher Brief Spoke to Todd Harrison, the director of Defense Budget Analysis at CSIS, to learn more about how the defense budget is shaped.

The Cipher Brief: How do we arrive at the top line figure for the defense budget?  How do we determine what our defense and security requirements are, and from that, how much we are going to pay for it?

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