On February 8, Defense One published an article titled “How to reconnect the Pentagon’s strategy to its budget” by Forward Defense Senior Advisor Stephen Rodriguez and Center for Government Contracting Research Fellow Eric Lofgren. In the article, Rodriguez and Lofgren argue that the Biden administration, given little time and likely less money than previous administrations, will need to align military strategy more closely to defense spending.
One of the problems of translating strategy into budgets is that the National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy use vague language in a bid to exercise top-down control yet grant flexibility at lower levels.
Forward Defense leads the Atlantic Council’s US and global defense programming, developing actionable recommendations for the United States and its allies and partners to compete, innovate, and navigate the rapidly evolving character of warfare. Through its work on US defense policy and force design, the military applications of advanced technology, space security, strategic deterrence, and defense industrial revitalization, it informs the strategies, policies, and capabilities that the United States will need to deter, and, if necessary, prevail in major-power conflict.
