Budgeting Enough for dreams

摘要

Shortly before Christmas, President Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 3979, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. It included a provision establishing a "National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund." The aim of the new fund-which as yet contains not one solitary dollar-is to take the costs of the Ohio replacement submarine out of the Navy's shipbuilding budget altogether and put it in the overall "Defense-wide" budget. The submarine-based, nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles carried by the Ohio class are the most credible element of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Their strategic importance is such that it seems safe to say that the Ohio replacement boats are the one class of vessels in the Navy 30-year shipbuilding program that will get built, no matter the consequences for other also sorely needed programs.