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I’m afraid the public has zero interest in our geopolitics.

The American public is NOT the public of old. Today, most Americans care about videos on TikTok or whatever the Kardashians and other Hollywood types are doing. The young college people are only interested in the flavor of the day that is being pushed on them by activists professors. And, most of our politicians are no better; all they care about is their Party’s political power.

The only way to way for Americans to wake to the threat is for us to get entangled in a major conflict that will have a major effect on every corner of our collective lives.

As for the Marine Corps; they are nowhere near ready to confront China should Xi Jinping pulls the trigger on Taiwan…he just might do it in the very short term.

“The commissioners contend that the U.S. public is largely unaware of the dangers the U.S. faces, or the costs required to adequately prepare. They do not appreciate the strength of China and its partnerships or the ramifications to daily life if a conflict were to erupt.”

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Two items of note from the "Commission on PPBE Reform Full Report" (pp. 130-131) referenced by the Rogers/Smith/Bacon/Khanna Article. I think that focusing on enacting these two recommendations to the exclusion of all else would substantially improve the Budget issues overall in a practical manner. More so, these two changes by themselves would significantly improve beyond the status quo without severe risk of creating new problems.

Item 1: "#4. Transform the Budget Structure

• The Commission recommends transforming the structure of DoD appropriations by reorganizing the budget structure to a proposed structure of Service/Component, Major Capability Activity Area,

System/Program, and lifecycle. The recommendation treats Military Personnel (MILPERS) as a

standalone capability area and recommends realignment of some Operating and Maintenance funds

(O&M) while retaining broader O&M MCAAs for general operations."

Item 2: "#8B. Allow Reprogramming of a Small Percentage of an Entire Appropriations Account with

Regular Congressional Briefings and Oversight

• The Commission recommends a longer-term replacement of existing BTR thresholds for individual

movements of funds at the budget line item level with an approach that would allow the Department

to move a small percentage of the funds within an account in the year of execution with a quarterly

report to the congressional defense committees. The Commission recommends that the

Department be authorized to reallocate up to a specified amount of funding within each

appropriations account, based on historic norms of BTR transfers within such accounts."

(https://ppbereform.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Commission-on-PPBE-Reform_Full-Report_6-March-2024_FINAL.pdf)

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Yes, and I also like recommendations #2 and #3. I believe (and this is based on my opinion and perceptions) that the 2019 budget guidance provided to the Civilian Military Service Secretaries is tied to the bad island chain strategic guidance and a bad FD2030 reorganization. These recommendations would help correct bad budgeting ideas. (Yep, it rolls downhill.) Good find cfrog!

#2. Strengthen the Defense Resourcing Guidance

• The Commission recommends improving the timeliness and content of guidance documents through a new guidance step that produces the DRG. This includes a process, led by CAPE in its role as executive secretary of the Analysis Working Group, of a series of informational and decisional meetings presenting threat and analytical information to senior leaders to frame the strategic environment and drive up-front resource decisions documented in the DRG.

• Refer to Section IV, page 51 for more detailed information.

#3. Establish Continuous Planning and Analysis

• The Commission recommends creating and strengthening robust analytic processes and metrics aligned with strategic guidance to inform all phases of the DRS with improved joint warfighting assessments and analysis; holistic execution phase reviews beyond financial metrics; continuous planning and strategic reviews to inform the DRG and Resource Allocation Submissions; industrial base and supply chain analysis; and information technology modernization to support modern analytic, wargaming, and modeling and simulation capabilities and improve access to analysis across the Department.

• Refer to Section IV, page 53 for more detailed information.

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The current administration spent trillions on buying votes that would have gone a long way to improve the military. As long a vote buying with tax dollars is illegal and not punished the military will not fully recover.

Watching America today is like reading about the Fall of the Roman Empire.

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This is not a site for political comments especially assertions--"buying votes"-- without evidence.

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The evidence has been in the news almost daily for three and a half years. Check the facts yourself, where the money went.

If you want adequate funding for the military, then supporting those that properly fund the military is necessary part of any discussion.

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I have checked the facts my friend and your assertion is simply untrue. However, bottom line is no political comments on Compass Points. End of story.

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