Bipartisan Budget Plan Erodes Military Pension →

The recently announced Bipartisan Budget Plan will cut military pensions by reducing annual Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) by 1 percentage point. Presently, military pensions are adjusted for inflation so that servicemembers maintain purchasing power throughout their retirement. The new proposal will allow inflation to slowly reduce the value of a military retirement.

For example, an E-7 who retires at 20 years of service receives $2,148.40 in retired pay. Under the Bipartisan Budget Plan, by the time this member reaches the age of 62, the effective retirement pay will be $1,761.65 -- $386.75 less per month. Over the course of 20 years, the retired servicemember will lose close to $50,000 in retired pay.

Furthermore, these cuts will affect all servicemembers -- those who are retired and those who are currently serving. This is a significant change to the military retirement system. As the Department of Defense reconfigures to save money, it is important to clearly recognize where the savings are coming from. 

Trend Analysis from Todd Harrison of CSBA

Last week, Todd Harrison presented a detailed trend analysis of defense spending. Using this trend analysis, he shows that the BCA caps may be a ceiling on defense spending rather than a floor.

You can watch the full presentation here.

Army has two brigades ready to fight →

The Army's FY2014 Base Budget Request is $129.7 billion. Yet, Army Chief of Staff, General Ray Odierno, says that only two brigades are ready to fight.

Where does the money go?

Harrison in Foreign Affairs -- Defense Cuts Conundrum →

Great article from Todd Harrison in Foreign Affairs in which he lays out the near-term vs long-term choices facing DoD in a constrained environment.

And, I especially like the Rolling Stones  quote at the end. Jagger left the London School of Economics to pursue music!

IT Costs and Performance →

It seems that DoD is having a hard time measuring the cost of doing business in IT operations as well.

The goal is to understand how much military services and agencies spend on people, technology and processes, and then use that information to improve decision making and to become more efficient.

Are you surprised that DoD doesn't know how its spending translates into performance?