Defense Budget and Acquisition

The Defense Budget Analysis Program, the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, and the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy track the foremost budget issues in the defense policy sphere.

Photo: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza, DOD

Photo: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza, DOD

Trump Restructures the Pentagon Budget: Two Views

Who should win and lose under Secretary Hegseth’s direction to reallocate 8 percent of DOD’s budget? CSIS experts Mark Cancian and Melissa Dalton took very different approaches in a recent exercise: a global focus (Cancian) versus the implications of the administration's strategy (Dalton).

Report by Mark F. Cancian and Melissa Dalton — April 16, 2025

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Past Events

Photo: Courtesy of Missile Defense Agency

Photo: Courtesy of Missile Defense Agency

MDA and the 2025 Budget

June 6, 2024 • 10:00 – 11:15 am EDT
Video On Demand
Hosted by Missile Defense Project
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Related Programs

Experts

Cynthia Cook

Cynthia Cook

Director, Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and Senior Fellow, Defense and Security Department
Gregory Sanders

Gregory Sanders

Former Deputy Director, Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and Senior Fellow, Defense and Security Department

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Is the Navy Too Small?

The Navy has 100 surface combatants to escort the carriers and conduct independent operations, 54 attack submarines, 14 ballistic missile submarines for nuclear deterrence, 4 cruise missile submarines for land attack, 30 amphibious ships for deploying Marines, and about 60 other ships for support and logistics.

Critical Questions by Mark F. Cancian — September 29, 2015

Force of the Future

Please join us for a discussion featuring a distinguished panel of experts to discuss the Pentagon's proposed reforms for the military and civilian personnel systems.

Event — September 15, 2015

War Funding, Sequestration, and the Budget Impasse

The complex politics of deficit hawks, defense hawks, and domestic program advocates has produced an impasse on the fiscal year 2016 defense budget. Sequestration threatens.

Critical Questions by Mark F. Cancian — June 12, 2015

The FY2016 Defense Budget and US Strategy: Key Trends and Data Points

Every year, the Department of Defense, OMB, the CBO, and GAO provide a wide range of materials analyzing the President’s proposed defense budget, and current trends in defense spending. These amount to thousands of pages and a wide variety of metrics, maps, charts, and other data.

Report by Anthony H. Cordesman — March 6, 2015