Budget Talks

This morning at the Pentagon, combatant commanders received "a series of briefings on the budget landscape" and discussed a "broad" range of issues in meetings scheduled to give COCOMs an opportunity to provide input concerning long-term investment plans and potential ways to glean savings, Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters this afternoon.

The discussions are continuing, he noted. Officials have not yet determined the final figure for the amount of defense cuts planned over the next decade, he said.

We broke the news of the meeting last week:

'Alt POMs' To Be Briefed To COCOMs As OSD Begins FY-13 Program, Budget Review

The military services next week are scheduled to begin briefing combatant commanders on their revised five-year spending plans as the Office of the Secretary of Defense begins its fiscal year 2013 budget review, a process expected to be influenced by new mandatory spending caps as well as a revision in strategy dubbed "QDR Minus."

Earlier this month, the services submitted “alternative” program objective memoranda -- dubbed "alt POMs" -- that reflect the August budget accord between the White House and Congress, a deal that requires cuts of more than $450 billion to the Pentagon's 10-year spending plan. The alternative POMs have been briefed to Pentagon leaders, including Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, according to DOD sources.

Details behind the FY-13 to FY-17 spending plans, including any new cuts to programs and force structure, are due to be briefed beginning next week to regional and functional combatant commanders, who play an indirect role in shaping the military department's budget plans.

Sources familiar with the services' plans say the alternative POMs were balanced by tapping manpower accounts through the use of civilian hiring freezes and end strength cuts, as well as via cuts to modernization accounts.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Secretary of Defense has begin in earnest its review of the alt POMs, sources said. Beginning in early October, OSD is expected to begin directing changes to the service POMs in line with the results of the comprehensive defense review launched this spring, which is intended to provide a strategic framework for budget cuts. Pentagon sources say the new framework retains fundamental elements of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review.

"It's the QDR strategy, with some tweaks," said one source familiar with the findings. "I don't think they're making any major shifts of strategy." . . .