News from PDA
This fall we were very pleased to be able to bring Ethan Rosenkranz on staff as Program Associate. Ethan joins PDA after working more than four years on Capitol Hill with Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). While on the Hill, Ethan handled a diverse portfolio, including Appropriations, Budget, Economy, Energy, Taxes, and Veterans' Affairs. He was the principal architect of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) alternative budget resolutions for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, incorporating much of the defense savings outlined by the Sustainable Defense Task Force.
The experience and knowledge that Ethan brings to PDA will be invaluable to our "sustainable defense" work and our new "Reset Defense" program which aims to define and promote a more realistic, effective, and sustainable US defense posture. Since September Ethan has been compiling and publishing PDA's semi-weekly Reset Defense Bulletin which offers news, views, and analysis on efforts to reform US defense policy, posture, and budgeting along more effective and sustainable lines.
This fall we were very pleased to be able to bring Ethan Rosenkranz on staff as Program Associate. Ethan joins PDA after working more than four years on Capitol Hill with Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). While on the Hill, Ethan handled a diverse portfolio, including Appropriations, Budget, Economy, Energy, Taxes, and Veterans' Affairs. He was the principal architect of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) alternative budget resolutions for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, incorporating much of the defense savings outlined by the Sustainable Defense Task Force.
The experience and knowledge that Ethan brings to PDA will be invaluable to our "sustainable defense" work and our new "Reset Defense" program which aims to define and promote a more realistic, effective, and sustainable US defense posture. Since September Ethan has been compiling and publishing PDA's semi-weekly Reset Defense Bulletin which offers news, views, and analysis on efforts to reform US defense policy, posture, and budgeting along more effective and sustainable lines.
You can subscribe to the Reset Defense Bulletin at http://defensealt.org/uzJ7yR. If the Bulletin is not to your taste, you can unsubscribe easily on the bottom of each issue. You can view a recent archived issue at http://defensealt.org/vZQzUl.
We are very pleased that our efforts (joined by many others) over the last two years have resulted in a defense budget that will be relatively flat in real terms for last year, this year and the next several years. Two years ago the Obama FY2010 budget had projected real continuing growth for the Pentagon budget, albeit at a slower rate than during the Bush years. Current planning which will appear publicly in February is for a 6% cut from the 2010 projection.
But keep in mind that the Pentagon's base (non-war) budget had grown 46% in real terms since 1998. We think double or triple (12-18% vs 6% in the present plan) real cuts are reasonable and safe for the country. So there is much more to be done.
What have we done recently?
Earlier in the fall we were consulting with congressional "super-committee" member Rep. Xavier Becerra of California. More recently we organized a briefing for twelve congressional aides on the prospects for change in national security strategy and budgets.
In October we published several reports relevant to the current strategic and budgetary moment:
Going for Broke: The Budgetary Consequences of Current US Defense Strategy by Carl Conetta shows how the Pentagaon's adoption of more ambitious goals, strategy, and missions after the Cold War led to today's unsustainable defense budgets.
Strategic Adjustment to Sustain the Force: A survey of current proposals by Charles Knight is a survey of five proposals by independent experts for adjusting US global strategy to new fiscal realities in ways that enhance security while avoiding 'hollowing' of the forces. The November 18 article called Power Down in the National Journal by James Kitfield quoted from this report and its author.
Funding
We have received pledges of $70,000 in one-to-one matching contributions to new money we raise for the project. So, if you like our work and want to make a contribution of whatever size, you can do so to our fiscal home The Commonwealth Foundation through Network for Good. Much appreciated.
Wishing you a Happy New Year!
