CONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED: Defense Spending & Strategy

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At the request of many aspiring flask-winners, who understandably could not churn out a solution to all of the Pentagon’s problems in several days, we have extended the deadline to this Thursday, the 7th of November, at noon.

The Question (courtesy John Nagl):

The United States Congress has dramatically reduced funding for the Department of Defense under sequester, but has not allowed the Department to cut base structure, benefits, or end strength to anything like the same degree. The Department has done the only thing it can in this situation, cutting operations and maintenance to the bone (with real risks to U.S. national security), but still can’t balance the books.

What should the Department of Defense do? Telling Congress to simply provide more resources isn’t working.

Please write, in 1000 words or less, what the Department of Defense should do. Estimate the savings offered by your solution on an annual steady-state or a total by 2020.

The top three entries will be published on War on the Rocks and the winners will each receive a War on the Rocks flask.

The Judges:

Submissions:

Send your entry to editor@warontherocks.com no later than Thursday, the 7th of November, at noon EST with CONTEST in the subject line.

You can enter anonymously or under a pseudonym.  Just be ready to tell us where to send your prize. Or we can arrange a dead drop.

 

Photo Credit: Eli Christman and the Department of Defense