America’s AWOL Defense Spending
By Don McGregor
February 24, 2025
A Path to Accountability
America's defense budget, the largest worldwide, guarantees U.S. military dominance. However, it faces challenges such as escalating costs, inefficiencies, misaligned priorities, and an unequal burden of global security responsibilities. A cumbersome bureaucracy, escalating defense programs, and insufficient oversight drain resources, leaving vital areas underfunded, rendering the defense budget “absent from duty.”
This essay examines spending challenges and proposes reforms to streamline and make resource allocation more accountable while modernizing the force, improving readiness, and sharing global security costs more equitably. It begins with a swollen bureaucracy.
Bloated Bureaucracy
Since the Cold War, four-star generals have increased while active-duty forces shrank, creating a top-heavy bureaucracy. Today, according to a 2024 Congressional Research Service report, there is one general for every 1400 service members, compared to one per 6,000 in WWII.
Additionally, the 'Fourth Estate' agencies within the Department of Defense (DoD) have expanded unchecked, now encompassing over 30 defense agencies with 380,000 employees at an annual cost exceeding $100 billion, growing annually by $10 billion since 2018.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found “…areas of fragmentation, overlap, and duplication among the DAFAs [Defense Agencies and Field Activities] – a 25% reduction in bureaucratic overhead alone could save over $40 billion annually.”
The consequences of an oversized command structure and unchecked bureaucratic growth are significant. Leadership interests are often prioritized over warfighter needs, raising concerns about resource allocation and spending priorities.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2025/02/24/americas_awol_defense_spending_1093338.html
