Think-Tanks

Four prominent Washington think-tanks next week will present alternatives to the Quadrennial Defense Review and fiscal year 2015 budget.

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for a New American Security and the Center for Strategic and International Studies were each "asked to develop its own strategy to rebalance DOD's major capabilities in light of projected security challenges and likely budget constraints," according to a CSBA statement issued yesterday, which adds:

Using CSBA's strategic choices tool and methodology, the teams were able to choose from over 700 pre-costed options to add or cut from the projected defense program over the next two Future Years Defense Programs (FY15-19 and FY20-24) at two different levels of budget reductions.

The first fiscal scenario follows the Budget Control Act (BCA) budget caps (as modified by the Ryan-Murray agreement). The second scenario allows the teams to "buy back" capabilities assuming a more optimistic funding line roughly half-way between the Fiscal Year 2014 President’s Budget baseline and full BCA level cuts in scenario #1.

CSBA will host a public event on Feb. 5 "where all four teams will present their alternative strategies, capability priorities, and budget decisions," followed by a question-and-answer period, according to the statement.