National Defense Budgeting and Financial Management

Policy and Practice, 2nd Edition

By:
Philip J. Candreva, Naval Postgraduate School

Published 2024

Budgeting for national defense is a complex endeavor, particularly for a nation like the U.S. that assumes global responsibility and strives to have the most advanced and lethal force on earth. It is necessary – and challenging – to balance the myriad requirements between current and future readiness, across warfare areas and military services, between having state of the art capability with sufficient capacity, and among people, hardware, and the activities people do with that hardware. As analytically difficult as that problem is, it is embedded in the political budgeting processes and national security must be balanced with every other function of government and there must also be cooperation across branches of government.

This text explores that complex endeavor. It takes the position that budgeting for defense is a particular instance of public budgeting which is a particular instance of public policy. Thus, this text starts with a conceptual, empirical, and process foundation before discussing the participants and processes that build the annual defense budget. It then covers the execution of that budget and the ultimate accounting.

Compared to the first edition, this text is updated with current figures and examples. There is a new chapter on determinants of military spending in society and burden sharing within alliances. The chapter on budget execution has been disaggregated and a new chapter is devoted to fiscal law. The final chapter seeks to integrate all that came before it by discussing matters that integrate the stages of budgeting and which cross branches of government. Following in the tradition of the first edition, this is intended to be both a textbook for a course in budgeting, but also a desktop reference for defense budgeting practitioners.

CONTENTS
Foreword to the 2nd Edition, The Honorable Douglas A. Brook. Preface; Why This Subject Is Still Important Acknowledgments. PART A: FOUNDATIONS FOR DEFENSE BUDGETING CHAPTER 1: A Theoretical and Conceptual Foundation for Defense Budgeting. CHAPTER 2: An Empirical Foundation for Defense Budgeting. PART B: POLITICAL AND POLICY CONTEXT FOR DEFENSE BUDGETING CHAPTER 3: Federal Budget Process. CHAPTER 4: Congress and the Defense Budget. CHAPTER 5: Determinants of Military Spending and International Burden Sharing. PART C: FORMULATING THE DEFENSE BUDGET CHAPTER 6: Budget Process Participants and Organization. CHAPTER 7: The Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution System. CHAPTER 8: Budget Formulation and Review. PART D: EXECUTING AND MANAGING THE DEFENSE BUDGET CHAPTER 9: Federal Fiscal Law. CHAPTER 10: Intragovernmental Business and Working Capital Funds. CHAPTER 11: Managing Budget Execution. CHAPTER 12: Internal Controls, Accounting & Auditing. CHAPTER 13: Pulling It All Together. Glossary. List of Acronyms. About the Authors.