Metrea releases new defense budget tool

By Tony Bertuca / October 24, 2022 at 1:20 PM

Metrea, formerly known as Meta Aerospace, has developed and released a new publicly available tool that provides current and historical U.S. defense budget data that could aid researchers.

Metrea’s Defense Budget Dashboard was developed by Todd Harrison, managing director of Metrea Strategic Insights and previously an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The project, he told Inside Defense, “sprang from some work I was doing to make searching through current and historical budget data easier for me.”

The dashboard, unlike similar tools, is publicly available and does not require a fee.

“My thought was why not make this more broadly available so it can benefit from the feedback and ideas of others?” Harrison said. “The data is all from publicly available budget documents that we ingested into a relational database. Others have done this as well, but I think what is different here is that MSI is making this available for free to other researchers.”

Harrison said the tool is helpful for those who might want to “navigate defense budget data and show it graphically,” especially concerning specific line items and program elements over a period of years.

“You can look at it by service,” he said. “You can look at it by title of the budget. You can even drill down to specific [research, development, test and evaluation] program elements and procurement line items. You can see what was requested and what was ultimately enacted for each year going back for 20 years.”

216270