Defense Budget

High Stakes and the Sequester Squeeze

When defense budgets get tight, politics can get a little complicated.

BY GORDON ADAMS | MAY 6, 2013

What a Piece of Junk!

Imperial investigators report weaknesses in Death Star management, performance.

BY MICHAEL PECK | MAY 3, 2013

1 Pentagon Weapons System That Was on Time and Under Budget

Look on the bright side: It could have been 0.

BY JOHN REED | APRIL 29, 2013

Storming the Hill

Thomas P.M. Barnett lets the White House off the hook for the Pentagon's dysfunction.

MAY/JUNE 2013

Paper Tiger

Why isn't the rest of Asia afraid of China?

BY DAVID KANG | APRIL 25, 2013

The Defense Department in Sequesterland

The Pentagon will make it through sequestration better than most.

BY GORDON ADAMS | APRIL 23, 2013

Off to a Bad Start

Why is the president letting America's nukes rust?

BY SEN. JIM INHOFE, SEN. BOB CORKER | APRIL 18, 2013

Channeling Bush's Budget Tricks

Will war funding save the Pentagon?

BY GORDON ADAMS | APRIL 17, 2013

Mirage Across the Potomac

The Pentagon's proposed spending and savings are both totally unrealistic.

BY GORDON ADAMS | APRIL 12, 2013

Obama Proposes Shifting Funds from Nuclear Nonproliferation to Nuclear Weapons

Hundreds of millions of dollars proposed in new spending on warheads.

BY R. JEFFREY SMITH, DOUGLAS BIRCH -- CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY | APRIL 9, 2013

Hagel Channels Eisenhower

Can the new SecDef actually rein in the military-industrial complex?

BY GORDON ADAMS | APRIL 4, 2013

Error Report II

GAO's defense of its F-35 investigation worries me even more.

BY WINSLOW WHEELER | APRIL 3, 2013

GAO Stands by Its F-35 Report

A response to Winslow Wheeler.

BY CHUCK YOUNG | MARCH 29, 2013

Error Report

Is there a government conspiracy to save the F-35?

BY WINSLOW WHEELER | MARCH 22, 2013

Contingency Operations

Are the Pentagon and the GOP finally embracing defense cuts?

BY GORDON ADAMS | MARCH 21, 2013

Billion Dollar Baby

Kim Jong Un scares the Pentagon into blowing a ton of money on its failed missile defense.

BY JEFFREY LEWIS | MARCH 20, 2013

Silicon, Iron, and Shadow

Three wars that will define America's future.

BY DAVID W. BARNO | MARCH 19, 2013

Alaskan Folly

We've doubled down on a defense that doesn't work against missiles that don't exist.

BY JOE CIRINCIONE | MARCH 18, 2013

Preserve the Reserves

Why America needs its citizen-soldiers now more than ever.

BY CHRISTOPHER HOLSHEK | MARCH 15, 2013

America Needs a Coast Guard That Can Fight

As the Arctic becomes an arena for conflict, the United States’ forgotten naval force will need to cowboy up.

BY JAMES HOLMES | MARCH 15, 2013

Phasing Out

Time for Obama to scuttle the plan to shoot down non-existent Iranian ICBMs.

BY TOM Z. COLLINA | MARCH 14, 2013

Smaller Is Smarter

Military drawdowns have driven innovation for millennia.

BY JOHN ARQUILLA | MARCH 11, 2013

Military Review

How Chuck Hagel can show the generals who's boss.

BY GORDON ADAMS | MARCH 8, 2013

It's Not You, It's Me

America's nukes are designed to comfort us, not scare the enemy.

BY JEFFREY LEWIS | MARCH 8, 2013

Round One Goes to the Budget Hawks

How the neocons lost the sequester battle -- but maybe not the war.

BY CHRISTOPHER PREBLE | MARCH 7, 2013

A Player, but No Superpower

Why China's military is a threat to its neighbors, but shouldn't concern the United States on its home turf.

BY ANDREW S. ERICKSON, ADAM P. LIFF | MARCH 7, 2013

Mad Libs: War Edition

FP asked more than 70 top military thinkers to fill in the blanks on the world's global conflicts -- from the drone wars to the budget wars.

MARCH 4, 2013

Think Again: The Pentagon

The military's Chicken Littles want you to think the sky is falling. Don't believe them: America has never been safer.

BY THOMAS P.M. BARNETT | MARCH 4, 2013

Obama's Grand Strategy

America's relative decline means that defense and social spending will have to compete head to head, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

MARCH 4, 2013

26 Days Later

On March 27, the sequester will rise from the dead.

BY GORDON ADAMS | FEBRUARY 28, 2013