Disputes over wall funding and budget caps threaten to overshadow a budget request designed to demonstrate a military shift toward great-power competition.
By Paul Sonne Paul Sonne National security reporter focusing on the U.S. military Email Bio Follow March 12 at 6:57 PM The Pentagon on Tuesday unveiled details of the $750 billion national defense budget that the Trump administration has asked Congress to pass, calling it an example of how the military is shifting its emphasis from counterinsurgencies to competition with China and Russia.
Whether the changes go far enough to reshape the military for a new mission is a matter of debate that will play out in public over the coming months as the Pentagon seeks to reach an agreement with Congress over what proposals will proceed and earn funding. Norquist said the budget represented the largest research, development, test and evaluation request submitted to Congress in 70 years, a testament to the Pentagon’s focus on developing new technologies. He highlighted significant new investments in cyberwarfare, hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, lasers and space, including the creation of a Space Force.
The administration asked for a 139 percent increase in the Pentagon war-fighting account, which funds active conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, because that account does not fall under congressionally mandated budget caps that extend for two more years. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Elaine McCusker said at a briefing that she could not say what programs the money would be going to backfill, because the department has not yet released a list of military construction programs that might lose funding for construction of the wall.
For example, Blume said, the decision to increase the number of Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines from two to three, invest in unmanned Navy vessels and finalize a decision on how to organize the Space Force represent steps toward implementing the strategy.
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