2.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course provides a practical understanding of defense budget terminology, the budgeting process, and methods of budgetary analysis. It explores long-term trends and near-term challenges in the defense budget, including changes in military personnel costs, operation and maintenance funding, major acquisition programs, and war-related funding. The course also covers the process and politics by which the budget request is created within the executive branch and subsequently modified and enacted by Congress. By the end of the course, students will be able to: 1) locate budget data in Office of the Management of the Budget and Department of Defense publications and understand the caveats associated with different sources of data; 2) conduct basic budget analysis, such as adjusting for inflation and calculating compound annual growth rates; 3) understand what is included in each of the major titles of the budget (RDT&E, procurement, O&M, MILCON, MILPERS, etc.); and 4) understand the iterative relationship between defense strategy and defense budgets.