Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

‘The 7 Deadly Sins of Defense Spending’

They are, according to five of my CNAS colleagues, these: 1. Redundant Overhead, Layering and Workforce 2. Inefficient Business Practices 3. Excessive Acquisition Costs and Overruns 4. Excess Infrastructure, Installations and Management Costs 5. Unaffordable Increases in Cash Compensation 6. Unsustainable Growth of Military Retirement System Costs 7. Escalating Military Health Care Costs If these seven money gluttons aren’t ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
Flickr
Flickr
Flickr

They are, according to five of my CNAS colleagues, these:

They are, according to five of my CNAS colleagues, these:

1. Redundant Overhead, Layering and Workforce

2. Inefficient Business Practices

3. Excessive Acquisition Costs and Overruns

4. Excess Infrastructure, Installations and Management Costs

5. Unaffordable Increases in Cash Compensation

6. Unsustainable Growth of Military Retirement System Costs

7. Escalating Military Health Care Costs

If these seven money gluttons aren’t tamed, they warn, "DOD will have no choice but to find savings through deep cuts to force structure, modernization and readiness — the very core capabilities required for the U.S. military to maintain global pre-eminence."

You can read the whole report here. You likely will hear more if you tune in to the CNAS annual conference tomorrow (Wednesday).

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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