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.

Eric Lofgren and Stephen Rodriguez
Forward Defense

Forward Defense, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, generates ideas and connects stakeholders in the defense ecosystem to promote an enduring military advantage for the United States, its allies, and partners. Our work identifies the defense strategies, capabilities, and resources the United States needs to deter and, if necessary, prevail in future conflict.

Related Experts: Stephen Rodriguez