Pentagon shifts $630 million to National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund

Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist last week approved a $630 million transfer to the National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine.

Congressional appropriators have never funded the account through the regular budget process. The $630 million in advance procurement was shifted from the Navy's shipbuilding account to the NSBDF, according to an Oct. 20 request signed by Norquist.

"There shall be deposited in the Fund all funds appropriate to the Department of Defense for construction (including design of vessels), purchase, alteration, and conversion of national sea-based deterrence vessels," the reprogramming action reads.

Funds were first deposited to the account through a December 2016 reprogramming. The Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act established the NSBDF to pay for the Columbia-class outside of the Navy's normal shipbuilding account. Service officials have said that without additional funding for the ballistic missile submarine replacement program, the service's conventional submarine programs would have to be cut back.