[Budget of the United States Government]
[VI. Investing in the Common Good: Program Performance in Federal Functions]
[13. National Defense]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
13. NATIONAL DEFENSE
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Table 13-1. FEDERAL RESOURCES IN SUPPORT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
(In millions of dollars)
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Estimate
Function 050 1998 -----------------------------------------------------------
Actual 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
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Spending:
Discretionary Budget Authority.......... 272,370 276,982 281,588 301,321 303,208 313,581 322,343
Mandatory Outlays:
Existing law.......................... -1,792 -815 -766 -614 -743 -710 -660
Credit Activity:
Direct loan disbursements............... ........ 172 249 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Guaranteed loans........................ 25 32 37 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Tax Expenditures:
Existing law............................ 2,095 2,120 2,140 2,160 2,180 2,200 2,220
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N/A = Not available
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The Federal Government will allocate $281.6 billion in discretionary
resources in 2000 to defend the United States, its citizens, its allies,
and to protect and advance American interests around the world. National
defense programs and activities ensure that the United States maintains
strong, ready, and modern military forces to promote U.S. objectives in
peacetime, deter conflict, and if necessary, successfully defend our
Nation and its interests in wartime.
Over the past half-century, our defense program has deterred both
conventional and nuclear attack on U.S. soil and brought a successful
end to the Cold War. Today, the United States is the sole remaining
superpower in the world, with military capabilities unsurpassed by any
Nation. As the world's best trained and best equipped fighting force,
the U.S. military continues to provide the strength and leadership that
serve as the foundation upon which to promote peace, freedom, and
prosperity around the globe.
Department of Defense (DOD)
The DOD budget provides for the pay, training, operation, basing, and
support of U.S. military forces, and for the development and acquisition
of modern equipment to:
Shape the international environment by maintaining U.S. defense forces
at levels sufficient to undertake our strategy of engagement, and
conducting programs to reduce weapons of mass destruction, prevent their
proliferation, and combat terrorism;
Respond to the full spectrum of crises by deploying forces overseas
and maintaining capabilities to mobilize forces stationed on U.S. soil;
Prepare for an uncertain future by giving U.S. forces the military
hardware that employs the best available technologies; and
Ensure that the U.S. military remains the world's most prepared and
capable force by sustaining force readiness levels and reengineering
business practices to improve operations.
To achieve these objectives, the defense program supports the
following forces and activities.
Conventional Forces: Conventional forces include ground forces such as
infantry and tank units; air forces such as tactical aircraft;
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naval forces such as aircraft carriers, destroyers, and attack
submarines; and Marine Corps expeditionary forces. The Nation needs
conventional forces to deter aggression and, when that fails, to defeat
it. Funds to support these forces cover pay and benefits for military
personnel; the purchase, operation, and maintenance of conventional
systems such as tanks, aircraft, and ships; the purchase of ammunition
and spare parts; and training.
Mobility Forces: Mobility forces provide the airlift and sealift that
transport military personnel and materiel throughout the world. They
play a critical role in U.S. defense strategy and are a vital part of
America's response to contingencies that range from humanitarian relief
efforts to major theater wars. Airlift aircraft provide a flexible,
rapid way to deploy forces and supplies quickly to distant regions,
while sealift ships allow the deployment of large numbers of heavy
forces together with their fuel and supplies. The mobility program also
includes prepositioning equipment and supplies at sea or on land near
the location of a potential crisis, allowing U.S. forces that must
respond rapidly to crises overseas to quickly draw upon these
prepositioned items.
Strategic Nuclear Forces: Strategic nuclear forces are also important
to our military capability. They include land-based intercontinental
ballistic missiles, submarine launched ballistic missiles, and long-
range strategic bombers. Within treaty-imposed limits, the primary
mission of strategic forces is to deter nuclear attack against the
United States and its allies, and to convince potential adversaries that
they will never gain a nuclear advantage against our Nation.
Supporting Activities: Supporting activities include research and
development, communications, intelligence, training and medical
services, central supply and maintenance, and other logistics
activities. For example, the Defense Health Program provides health care
through DOD facilities, as well as through the CHAMPUS medical insurance
program and TRICARE, its companion program.
DOD Performance
DOD's corporate goals derive from the key tenets of the U.S. national
security strategy and form the basis of the performance goals and
measures presented here. Each performance goal reflects one aspect of
DOD's corporate goals and together contribute to the overall assessment
of the Department's performance.
Shaping the International Environment and Responding to the Full
Spectrum of Crises: DOD's first performance goal is to shape the
international environment by participating in international security
organizations, such as NATO, and improving our ability to work
cooperatively with our friends and allies. Such efforts are designed to
promote regional stability and security, and reduce the threat of war.
Their failure could lead to a major conflict affecting U.S. interests.
Also, DOD must be able to respond to the full spectrum of crises, from
small-scale contingencies to two nearly simultaneous major theater wars.
Evaluating DOD's performance in this area includes an assessment of:
The ability of U.S. forces to enhance and sustain security
relationships with friends and allies, enhance coalition
warfighting, promote regional stability and support U.S.
regional security objectives, deter aggression, and prevent or
reduce the threat of conflict. One measure of this is DOD's
ability to conduct joint exercises. In 2000, DOD will conduct
146 combined military exercises.
The budget will support DOD's continued success in implementing
programs that reduce the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction
(WMD). To that end DOD's Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) activities,
in concert with enhanced threat reduction programs in the Departments of
Energy and State, will continue to assist the successor states of the
former Soviet Union secure, dismantle and destroy weapons; and help
these states prevent the proliferation of WMD-related material and
expertise.
Overseas presence, mobility, and the sustaining of a capable force
structure are also key to DOD's ability to respond effectively to
crises. DOD's effectiveness will be determined, in part, by the ability
of U.S. forces ``forward deployed'' (that is, on site around the world)
and those deploying from U.S.
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bases to rapidly converge at the scene of a potential conflict to deter
hostilities and protect U.S. citizens and interests in times of crisis.
The Army will maintain one mechanized division in the Pacific
region and two divisions with elements in Europe.
The Navy will maintain an overseas presence, defined by the
percentage of time regions are covered by an aircraft carrier
battle group, at 100 percent in the Pacific, 75 percent in
Europe and 75 percent in Southwest Asia.
The Air Force will maintain two fighter wing equivalents in
the Pacific, one in Alaska, two in Europe and one in Southwest
Asia.
The Marine corps will cover the Pacific region with a Marine
expeditionary unit or amphibious ready group one hundred
percent of the time, Europe eighty percent of the time, and
Southwest Asia 50 percent of the time.
DOD's current force structure was derived from the Quadrennial Defense
Review (QDR) which was designed to respond to the full spectrum of
crises, up to and including two major-theater wars. DOD acknowledges the
impact of a high rate of operation on unit readiness. Therefore, DOD
will closely monitor the pace of peacetime operations across the forces.
In 2000, these measures include:
The Army will maintain four active corps headquarters, 18
active and National Guard divisions, two active armored
cavalry regiments, and 15 National Guard enhanced readiness
brigades. The Army will lower the number of units deploying
more than 120 days per year to zero.
The Navy will maintain 11 aircraft wings, 12 amphibious ready
groups, 12 aircraft carriers, 56 attack submarines, and 114
surface combatants. In addition, the Navy will reduce to zero
the number of units not meeting its personnel tempo goal.
The Air Force will maintain 20.2 Air Force Fighter wing
equivalents, four air defense squadrons, and 187 bombers. The
Air Force will lower the number of units deploying more than
120 days per year to zero.
The Marine Corps will maintain three marine expeditionary
forces, three active and one reserve divisions, three active
and one reserve air wings, and three active and one reserve
force service support groups. The Marine Corps will lower to
zero the number of units deploying more than 180 days per year
over a 36-month scheduling period.
Remaining the world's most ready and capable force depends on four
elements: ensuring the readiness of military units; retaining and
recruiting high-quality personnel; strengthening and enhancing quality
of life programs for military members and their families; and providing
equal opportunity throughout the armed services.
DOD has identified specific milestones to measure progress and to
monitor readiness levels in each area, such as the amount of training
that individual units accomplish, the availability and operability of
equipment, and the achievement of recruiting and retention goals.
Several factors determine overall unit readiness, such as
training, quality and availability of equipment, and number of
personnel and, in 2000, DOD will ensure that all of its units
meet their specified readiness goals.
In 2000, on average, the Army will attain 800 tank miles per
tank a year; active Air Force fighter crews will achieve 19.1
flying hours per crew a month; the Marine Corps will fully
execute its mission training syllabus; and Navy ships will
steam 50.5 days per quarter for deployed vessels and 28 days
for non-deployed vessels.
Finally, the amount of sealift and airlift capacity must be sufficient
to meet deployment time lines for deterring and defeating large-scale,
cross-border aggression in two distant theaters in overlapping time
frames, and to sustain U.S. forces engaged in two major theater wars.
In 2000, DOD will attain an organic strategic airlift
capability of 26 million ton
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miles a day and will attain a surge sealift capacity of 8.7
million square feet.
Preparing Now for an Uncertain Future: To achieve DOD's second
corporate goal, U.S. forces must maintain a qualitative superiority over
potential adversaries by pursuing a focused procurement and research and
development program. DOD must transform the force by exploiting the
Revolution in Military Affairs, and reengineer the Department to achieve
a 21st Century infrastructure. (Chapter 11, ``Supporting the World's
Strongest Military Force,'' contains a description of major DOD
acquisition deliverables.) Achieving this goal depends on ensuring that:
DOD will recruit 203,000 new members of the armed services,
and will obtain 60 percent of recruits from the top half of
those tested for service.
As part of meeting this goal, DOD will follow the strategy of Joint
Vision 2010, developed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to
transform U.S. forces for the future, and it will exploit emerging
communication, information and associated technologies to reshape the
way it fights and prepares for war.
DOD will acquire modern and capable weapon systems and will
deliver them to U.S. forces in 25 percent less time, from 132
months in 1992 to 99 months in 2000, and will meet required
performance specifications.
Defense Technology Objectives (DTOs) guide both basic
research and focused investment. In 2000, DOD will maintain 70
percent of DTOs on track.
Joint experimentation is an aggressive new program designed
to give insights into new operational concepts and validate
their ability to meet future battlefield requirements. In
2000, DOD will conduct 14 joint experiments.
DOD must develop new, innovative approaches to manage infrastructure
costs, improve the quality of health care, and capitalize on the
revolution in business affairs. Following the end of the Cold War, the
United States began a major reduction of its military forces. DOD's cuts
in infrastructure costs, however, have not kept pace. To make further
cuts, DOD plans to adopt innovative management techniques and
technological practices.
The Defense Health Program will work to improve the quality of health
care provided to beneficiaries, expand their access to care, and contain
the cost of that care to the Federal government. These goals will be
achieved through continued measurement of health outcomes and customer
satisfaction, partnerships with other Federal agencies as well as the
private sector, and sizing the system to reflect the wartime and
peacetime requirements more accurately.
As part of this goal, DOD must also transform its support functions.
Therefore, DOD has identified specific measures around which to focus
the reform of acquisition and business affairs.
By 2000, DOD will:
Ensure that U.S. forces can achieve visibility of 90 percent
of DOD materiel assets, while resupplying military
peacekeepers and warfighters and reducing the 1997 average
order-to-receipt time from 36 days to 18 days in 2000.
Dispose of $500 million in excess National Defense Stockpile
inventories and reduce other supply inventories by $53
billion.
Dispose of 41 million cumulative square feet of excess real
property.
Award contracts for the construction of 41,000 privatized
family housing units.
Compete 50,000 positions under the OMB A-76 public-private
sector competitions process.
Limit the cost growth of major acquisition programs to less
than one percent.
Simplify purchasing and payment by using purchase card
transactions for 90 percent of all DOD micropurchases, while
reengineering the requisitioning, funding, and ordering
processes.
Cut paper acquisition transactions by half from 1997 levels
through electronic commerce and electronic data interchange.
Eliminate layers of management by streamlining processes,
while cutting
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DOD's acquisition-related work force by 15 percent.
Department of Energy (DOE) Performance
DOE contributes to our national security mainly by reducing the global
danger from nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. DOE
is committed to maintaining confidence in the nuclear weapons stockpile
without testing, as required under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; to
strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime; to work with states of
the former Soviet Union to improve control of nuclear materials; to
develop improved technologies to detect, identify, and respond to the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and illicit materials
trafficking; and to clean up aggressively the environmental legacy of
nuclear weapons programs.
The budget proposes $12.3 billion to meet DOE's national security
objectives, of which $6.3 billion is for ongoing national security
missions and $6.0 billion addresses environmental cleanup activities.
DOE will achieve the following performance goals:
National Security
Meet all scheduled nuclear weapons alterations and
modifications and certify to the President that standards for
safety, reliability, and performance of the nuclear weapons
stockpile are met.
Demonstrate a computer code to perform 3-D analysis of the
behavior of a nuclear weapons primary, including the
prediction of total explosive yield.
Dismantle about 375 nuclear warheads that have been removed
from the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
Begin to implement a bilateral agreement with Russia for
disposing of surplus weapons plutonium.
Continue upgrades to protect fissile materials at over 50
sites in Russia including five uranium and plutonium
processing sites, three nuclear weapons complex sites, and 10
Russian Navy projects; and create civilian ventures in
Russia's formerly closed nuclear cities to block nuclear
smuggling.
Environmental Quality
Complete 200 release site assessments. A release site is a
specific location where hazardous, radioactive, or mixed waste
has or is suspected to have occurred.
Clean up 200 release sites, bringing the number completed to
more than 4,500 of a total inventory of approximately 9,300
release sites.
Complete 400 facility decommissioning assessments.
Decommission 110 facilities, increasing the number completed
to 730 of approximately 2,850 facilities.
Other Defense-Related Activities
Other activities that support national defense and that are
implementing performance measurement include programs involving the:
Coast Guard, which supports the defense mission through
overseas deployments for engagements with friends and allies,
port security teams, boarding and inspection teams for
enforcing U.N. sanctions, training, aids to navigation,
international icebreaking, equipment maintenance, and support
of the Coast Guard Reserve;
Federal Bureau of Investigation, which conducts
counterintelligence and surveillance activities;
Maritime Administration, which helps maintain a fleet of
active, military useful, privately owned U.S. vessels that
would be available in times of national emergency;
Arlington National Cemetery, which is developing an expansion
plan for using contiguous land sites that will be vacated by
the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps; and
Selective Service System, which is modernizing its
registration process to promote military recruiting among
registrants. This spirit of volunteerism will be achieved in
partnership with the America's Promise group, private
corporations, and the armed services.
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Accurately Recognizing and Reporting Veterans Benefits
The Nation has long viewed veterans programs as a key way to attract the high-quality people needed for our
volunteer armed forces. Americans recognize veterans benefits as an appropriate part of the compensation
provided for service in the military. Veterans programs are inextricably linked with national defense; without
defense, veterans programs would not exist.
Because the Veterans Affairs Department funds and administers these benefits, however, the Federal Government
has accounted for them differently than other defense-related budget costs. They appear in the budget's Veterans
Benefits and Services function, not the National Defense function. Also, the budget does not report the full
size of these obligations. Rather than recognize the benefits and future Federal obligations that military
members earn through their service, the budget reports only the amounts paid in a single year to veterans. Thus,
neither the Defense Department (DOD) nor Congress gets a full picture of defense personnel costs when making
decisions about the size and scope of our military, making it far harder to consider which package of benefits
might best attract and retain quality military personnel. Finally, the 1993 Government Performance and Results
Act encourages policy makers to align missions and related Government programs in the budget.
The Administration, which plans to work with Congress this year to address this problem, believes that any of
the following four options would improve the current budgetary treatment of veterans programs, enabling the
Government to more accurately measure the true cost of our national defense: (1) move the veterans-related
discretionary accounts into the Defense function; (2) fund veterans entitlements on an accrual basis in DOD's
budget and fund discretionary veterans programs in the Defense function; (3) fund veterans entitlements on an
accrual basis in DOD's budget and display veterans spending in related functions (e.g., Education); or (4) fund
veterans entitlements on an accrual basis in DOD's budget and continue to reflect veterans spending in its
current function.
Table 13-2 below shows the estimated annual charges to DOD's military personnel account from pre-funding
veterans benefits.
Table 13-2. ACCRUING VA BENEFITS FOR CURRENT MILITARY PERSONNEL
(Notional Costs of Accruing and Actuarially Funding VA Benefits in DOD
Budget)
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Percentage 2000 DOD
of DOD Notional Cost
Program Basic Pay (in millions of
\2\ dollars)
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VA Compensation........................... 11.6% 4,482
Active Duty Education..................... 2.0% 773
VA Loans................................. 0.2% 77
Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling. 0.9% 348
VA Pensions............................... 2.5% 966
VA Burial................................. 0.1% 39
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Total VA Benefits....................... 17.3% 6,684
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\1\ For a more detailed discussion of veterans programs, see Chapter 27,
``Veterans Benefits and Services.''
\2\ Basic pay for military personnel does not include benefits, special
and incentive pay or bonuses, or housing and subsistence allowances.
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