Resourcing the National Security Enterprise
Connecting the Ends and Means of US Security
Edited by Susan Bryant and Mark Troutman
Cambria Press, New York, 2022, 302 pages
Book Review published on: June 2, 2023
Editors Susan Bryant and Mark Troutman’s book, Resourcing the National Security Enterprise: Connecting the Ends and Means of US Security, is a compendium of eleven chapters by different contributors. All are subject matter experts with years of experience in their field. The contributors’ minibiographies are provided at the end of the book. The editors’ stated intent is to be a practical guide for new practitioners in the federal government and they hit the mark. This book serves as a good primer and offers valuable insight on many aspects of the resourcing process.
Chapter 1 is an introduction to the book, including how the editors define national security and includes a quick synopsis of the chapters.
Chapter 2 begins the expository portion of the book and covers the role and dynamics of the U.S. economy. Author Mark Troutman describes the impact of domestic and international influences and outlines the broad defense industry. Troutman uses statistics and evidence to support his claim that the real economy (goods, services, and industries that underpin American economic security) must be resourced and protected. He mentions the “Innovation Industry” and importance to improving not only the public economy but the defense sector.
Chapter 3 covers the role of Congress. The author outlines the budgeting process history. She asserts that the process is fragmented, with different parts of the national security areas split between many committees as well as timelines that must be met by Congress under one-year budgets. She finishes with recommendations for improvement, such as overhauling the expertise, committees, and budget cycles that currently characterize Congress’ involvement in national security.
In chapter 4, the author gives a very broad but good overview of how the National Security Council is designed and operates to provide recommendations to the president. The author discusses the functional and relational success factors of the National Security Council, which was a new concept for me. He finishes with an example from the 2014–16 Afghanistan drawdown, which illustrated the National Security Council’s role in policy decisions but seemed disconnected from the book’s main theme of resourcing.
Chapters 5 and 6 cover resourcing diplomatic missions and UN peacekeeping missions. Chapter 5 discusses the overall planning and priorities process and then explains how resourcing for the Department of State occurs both internally and externally. The author discusses five areas that create issues in the resourcing process and makes several well-reasoned recommendations for improvement. Chapter 6 explains how UN peacekeeping missions are designed and funded and briefly describes the role of the U.S. Congress. In both chapters, the authors discuss areas that create issues in the resourcing process and make several rational recommendations for improvement.
Chapter 7 focuses on how the defense budget process works. The author gives a good history of how the Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System started with then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in the Kennedy administration and has remained the foundation of the DOD process we know today. The author describes the authorization bills approval process, diving into more of the behind-the-scenes operations of how the budget is formulated from the Pentagon and congressional perspective. The chapter misses the opportunity to link to the formal process the DOD and services develop their budget during the programming phase of Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution, which is arguably the most important input to the overall process. However, the programming phase is covered in a later chapter.
Chapter 8 discusses the framework of how strategic choices are made using four pillars of defense planning: force size/composition, force posture, modernization, and readiness. The author argues that national security professionals can use the four pillars model to drive more effective discussions of strategy, illustrating the linkages and complexity of the areas and how cuts in one area will affect outcomes in another.
Chapters 9 and 10 are linked and the best of the book. Chapter 9 addresses resourcing military readiness against current and future threats through the lens of cause, effect, opportunity cost, and risk. The author discusses force demands, monitoring readiness, and identifying mitigations. Chapter 10 addresses the need for strategists to be more involved in the programming phase to assist with risk and priorities and ensure strategies are resourced properly. The author’s framework is strategy as a combination of time and resources. He outlines the planning, programming, and budgeting timelines that drive the resourcing process and makes several recommendations throughout the chapter, including ensuring strategy writers have sufficient experience and expertise in the field.
Chapter 11 explains how operations within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are planned and resourced. This was a very good read on a little-known department. The author outlines several concerns with authorities, conflicting priorities with other U.S. government agencies in areas where DHS has authorities and responsibilities, working relationships with public industry, as well as state and local government partners. Of note, most DHS funding is approved only when emergencies occur, while annual budget congressional authorizations and appropriations go through over one hundred congressional subcommittees. This complicates and dilutes programs and priorities when not viewed holistically in Congress. Finally, DHS does most of the research to develop processes and systems that can then be shared with others to reduce the overhead cost burden. DHS charges some fees for services and offers grants to industry and state/local govts to improve systems. DHS also conducts exercises to build relationships, identify best practices, risk assessment, and preparation. The author provides several recommendations to improve DHS resourcing.
The book is a good read for those in government dealing with planning activities, working programming of government activities, and understanding congressional appropriations. For the DOD, this should be required reading at the senior service colleges or in the financial management and comptroller sections of each service and the DOD and joint staff. While the level of depth will leave experts unsatisfied, the book meets its goal of offering a primer to those unfamiliar with resourcing national security.
Book Review written by: James Kennedy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia