Bureaucratic Politics and the Silver Bullet

Abstract

The FY96 National Defense Appropriations Act recently passed by Congress contains 5493 million in long-lead funding for additional B-2s that the Department of Defense did not request. This essay investigates the multiple strands underlying the B-2 funding decision, including conflicting messages sent by various Air Force sources, fiscal concerns that drove the position of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the impact of selected influences on Congress. It concludes the decision to provide additional funds was a compromise driven by bureaucratic politics that failed to determine how national security is enhanced by continuing the B-2 program past its previous mandate of 20 aircraft.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1996
Accession Number
ADA441436

Entities

People

  • Mark A. Gunzinger

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Budgets
  • Budgets
  • Cold War
  • Congress
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Cost Analysis
  • Costs
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Information Operations
  • Military Budgets
  • National Security
  • Procurement
  • Security
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.