WASHINGTON - January 23 - In anticipation of the release of the defense budget request on Feb. 5, 2007, four security and defense policy experts will brief the press on Feb. 1 and offer an insider’s look at the politics behind the dollars. The experts will release a report card grading the Bush administration on their handling of key national security and budget issues, expecting that the new budget will place little emphasis on much needed military reform, budget restraint, or balanced security.

Journalists seeking a preview of the new defense budget request will hear from the following analysts at the National Press Club briefing:

Has the administration used emergency spending effectively?
Steve Kosiak, director of budget studies for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, will evaluate the administration’s use of emergency spending and discuss specific budgetary items that will be included in the 2008 request.

What reforms are needed in the defense budgeting process?
Winslow Wheeler, director of the Center for Defense Information’s Straus Military Reform Project, will review recent defense budget trends and what real changes, if any, can be expected in the upcoming year from Congress and the Pentagon.

What’s the real budget request, and is it practical?
Cindy Williams, principal research scientist for the Security Studies Program at MIT, will review recent defense budget trends and what real changes, if any, can be expected in the upcoming year from Congress and the Pentagon.

What do the troop ‘surge’ and the Iraq war mean for the budget?
Carl Conetta, co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives, will grade the administration on its plans for the troop ‘surge’ in Iraq and permanent boost in ground force end strength.

Event Details:

When: Feb. 1, 2007, 9:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Where: National Press Club, 529 14th St, NW, 13th Floor, Murrow Room

RSVP: Whitney Parker, wparker@cdi.org, 202-797-5287

Light refreshments will be served.

About the Security Policy Working Group
Security Policy Working Group (SPWG), a project of Proteus Fund, is a collaborative policy research consortium. We seek to fundamentally reshape security policy in the United States and to broaden and deepen the public discourse on what constitutes true security in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. We emphasize multilateral, cooperative approaches that lessen the need for, and use of, military force.
SPWG members include individuals and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) representing decades of leadership in independent security policy research and analysis on a broad range of issues. These include: budget and economic considerations; military strategy; doctrine and options; counter-terrorism; homeland security; institutional reform and decisionmaking; and international relations and diplomacy.
Our expertise is strengthened through our collective commitment to aggressively and effectively communicate our research findings and alternative policy options to a wide range of audiences and constituencies.

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