Military officer quality in the all-volunteer force →

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New report from Brookings by Matthew F. Cancian and Michael W. Klein:

In this paper, we show that the quality of officers in the Marines, as measured by scores on the General Classification Test (GCT), a test that all officers take, has steadily and significantly declined since 1980.

I would like to know if the result is robust across all branches of service.

This paper analyzed the quality of the officers of one branch of the military, the Marine Corps, and found a relevant and steady decline in intelligence, as measured by GCT scores, since 1980. This decline was closely associated with an expansion of the pool of young college graduates during the same time period, which potentially diminished the overall intellectual quality of that pool.

Rand: Price increases likely will hurt commissaries →

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From an article in this week's Air Force Times:

Estimates suggest that a 1 percent change in prices will result in a greater than 1 percent change in the amount of products sold by stores, the researchers said.

"If these findings hold true for a change in the price of goods sold at commissaries, then an increase in prices will decrease revenues," the report stated.

Sounds like elasticity to me.

Congressional Budget Office - Approaches for Scaling Back on the Defense Department’s Budget Plans →

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has posted a report on March 18 that outlines four options for reducing defense spending:

  1. Preserve Force Structure; Cut Acquisition and Operations
  2. Cut Acquisition and Operations; Phase in Reductions in Force Structure
  3. Achieve Savings Primarily by Reducing Force Structure
  4. Reduce Force Structure Under a Modified Set of Budget Caps

Which option do you agree with and why? Which of these options is most politically expedient? Which will result in the best long-term outcome? Who are the winners and losers for each option?