【英文】美国军力评估报告：引言（20页）

When it comes to the defense budget, how  much we spend does not automatically determine the U.S. military’s posture or capacity. As  a matter of fact, simply looking at how much  is allocated to defense does not tell us much  about the capacity, modernity, or readiness of  the forces. Proper funding is a necessary condition for a capable, modern, and ready force,  but it is not sufcient by itself. A larger defense  budget, for example, could be associated with  less military capability if the money were allocated inappropriately or spent wastefully.  Nevertheless, the budget does reflflect the importance assigned to defending the nation and  its interests in prioritizing federal spending. Absent a signifificant threat to the country’s  survival, the U.S. government will always balance spending on defense against spending in  all of the other areas of government activity  that are deemed necessary or desirable. Ideally, defense requirements are determined by  identifying national interests that might need  to be protected with military power; assessing  the nature of threats to those interests, what  would be needed to defeat those threats, and  the costs associated with that capability; and  then determining what the country can aford  or is willing to spend. Any diference between  assessed requirements and afordable levels of  spending on defense would constitute a risk to  U.S. security interests. 

This Index enthusiastically adopts this approach: interests, threats, requirements, resulting force, and associated budget. Spending less than the amount needed to maintain a  two-MRC force results in policy debates about  where to accept risk: force modernization, the  capacity to conduct large-scale or multiple simultaneous operations, or force readiness. The  composition of the force and the understanding of military risk have become more salient  issues with the shift toward competition with  China and Russia. Both the 2017 National  Security Strategy10 and the 2021 Interim National Security Guidance11 recognize that meeting the challenges posed by these two large,  well-equipped, and well-resourced countries  requires a U.S. force that is modern, ready, and  efective in all domains of warfare. The decision to fund national defense at a  level that is commensurate with interests and  prevailing threats reflflects our national priorities and risk tolerance. This Index assesses the  ability of the nation’s military forces to protect  vital national security interests within the  world as it is so that the debate about the level  of funding for hard power is better informed. The fifiscal year (FY) 2021 base discretionary budget for the Department of Defense was  $703.7 billion.12 This represents the resources allocated to pay for the forces (manpower,  equipment, and training); enabling capabilities  (things like transportation, satellites, defense  intelligence, and research and development);  and institutional support (bases and stations,  facilities, recruiting, and the like). The base  budget has not paid for the cost of major ongoing overseas operations, which are captured  in supplemental funding known as OCO (overseas contingency operations).