Service Chiefs and Budgeting

Serious shifts within the Department of Defense's (DoD's) budget process may lead to legislative change and the eventual dissolution of the services. As theses changes occur, the senior leadership of the services (service chiefs) will face ever-evolving challenges as far as how to best operate for their service. One important driver to these changes was the 2003 Joint Defense Capabilities Study, which addressed the DoD process for development and resourcing of joint capabilities. The study found that current processes were service-dominated, did not consider the full range of solutions available, and had insufficient senior leadership involvement until late in the process. This essay addresses the impact that suggestions made by the Joint Defense Capabilities Study are having on the DoD resourcing processes and makes suggestions for how a service chief can best operate in the increasingly joint budgeting environment. This paper draws on conventional research into the process changes that are occurring as well as on interviews with senior AF leadership and with some of those intimately involved in the change process in developing these suggestions. Service chiefs will face ever-shifting challenges within this environment. They need to have two debates to be prepared: denial versus acceptance and mitigation and service-centrism versus joint focus. After these two debates are resolved, the chief will be more prepared to enter the joint budgeting arena, where he must be articulate and engaged in order to be effective.