The 2013 Pentagon budget reflects the Obama Administration’s unwillingness to embrace strategic change that would allow far larger cuts. And by failing to propose such cuts, the Pentagon is refusing to avoid sequestration, the across-the-board cut of roughly ten percent from its accounts required under the Budget Control Act (BCA).

In proposing a military budget about six billion dollars lower than last year’s, the Obama Administration has for the first time proposed a real cut in the non-war military budget, but much of that cut likely shifted to the war budget. The administration has also said that the Pentagon should spend less over the decade than previously planned, which would cause an eight percent cut to non-war spending—in the unlikely event that the plan holds. If we include war costs, the military budget has been falling since 2010 when war costs peaked. But keep in mind that the defense budget grew by over seventy percent in real terms since 1999, with the non-war portion roughly doubling.

For more on this story, visit: The Pentagon’s Sequester Gamble | The National Interest Blog.