1、The Sacrifice AheadThe 2012 Defense Budget F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1 P o l i c Y B R i E FBy Travis SharpFor the first time since the U.S.invasion of iraq in 2003,the Department of Defense(DoD)has requested less funding for its new base budget than it did the year before.At 553 billion dollars,the fis
2、cal year(FY)2012 base budget request,which excludes supplemental war costs,is 1.2 percent smaller in real terms than the FY 2011 request.This decline signals a departure from the pattern over the last 10 years,when the base budget request grew an average of 3.7 percent in real terms each year as the
3、 Pentagon worked to support tens of thousands of U.S.troops serving overseas.1 Defense Secretary Robert Gates also announced last month that DoD will reduce its planned expenditures by 78 billion dollars over the next five years.These funds,identified through DoDs ongoing efficiencies initiative,wil
4、l return to federal coffers to help reduce Americas yawning budget deficits.While these changes are a good first step,the FY 2012 defense budget request does not go far enough to rebalance DOD and federal spending priori-ties given the fiscal pressures and unconventional threats facing the United St
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