Toward a Sustainable Defense Budget

Debt, Deficits, and Defense: A Way Forward. Report of the Sustainable Defense Task Force, 11 June 2010. The seminal report that began the current debate over defense budget cuts. It presents options for reducing DoD's budget, in sum saving nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.

• Executive Summary (12 page)
• Short Summary (4 page)

Rethinking our Defense Budget: Achieving National Security through Sustainable Spending. Carl Conetta written testimony for Congressional hearing on US defense spending, US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations, 20 July 2010.

Experts Letter on Defense Spending to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, 18 November 2010. Joint declaration by 48 top scholars and practitioners of national security policy: "We can achieve safe savings in defense if we are willing to rethink how we produce military power and how, why, and where we put it to use."

For the Sake of National Security, the Pentagon Must Tighten Its Belt. Carl Conetta and Charles Knight. National Defense, May 2010

The Pentagon’s Runaway Budget. Carl Conetta. Foreign Policy in Focus, 3 March 2010.  Offers an overview of the factors driving the sharp rise in US defense spending.