Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 2 hours / session
Prerequisites
Open to qualified graduate students and requires permission of the instructor.
Description
This course is for students who want to know how the dollars we spend on national security relate to military forces, systems, and policy choices, and who wish to develop a personal tool kit for framing and assessing defense policy alternatives.
The course aims to familiarize students with budgetary concepts and processes; to examine relationships among strategy, forces, and budgets; to explore tradeoffs among the main categories of defense spending; and to develop frameworks for identifying the costs of new military policies.
Textbook
Adams, Gordon, and Cindy Williams. Buying National Security: How America Plans and Pays for Its Global Role and Safety at Home. New York: Routledge, 2010. ISBN: 9780415954402.
Grading
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Class participation | 10% |
| Opinion article about national security | 25% |
| Paper on budget options for national security | 25% |
| Group project on top-level national security review | 40% |
Calendar
| WEEK # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction — Budgets as Policy | |
| 2 | National Security Budgets in Context | |
| 3 | Defense Budget Composition and Internal Pressures | |
| 4 | Grand Strategy and Budgets | Opinion article about national security due |
| 5 | Planning and Budgeting for National Security | |
| 6 | Spending for Military Pay and Benefits | |
| 7 | Budgets to Modernize the Force | |
| 8 | Budgets for Operation and Maintenance | Paper on budget options for national security due |
| 9 | Cost of the War in Iraq | |
| 10 | Federal Spending for Homeland Security | |
| 11 | Federal Spending for Diplomacy and Foreign Aid | |
| 12 | Presentation of Alternative National Security Plans | Group project on top-level national security review due |