How Inflation Hurts America's National Defense

A new study from three former Department of Defense (DoD) comptrollers looks at the major harm inflation is causing to the DoD and defense sector and offers Congress clear recommendations on how these challenges can be mitigated.

Launched on September 13, 2022, NDIA's white paper, "How Inflation Hurts America's National Defense – and What We Can Do About It," explains how the DoD is dealing with significant inflation for the first time since the early 1980s. Actual inflation has exceeded what was expected (and budgeted for) by almost 9 percentage points since inflation began to rise in January 2021. From Fiscal Years (FY) 2021 to 2023, the total loss of buying power from this unexpected inflation will exceed $110 billion dollars. This loss comes at a challenging time as DoD races to make up for lost ground in maintaining overmatch against near peer competitors supported by a Defense Industrial Base (DIB) still suffering from COVID-19, supply chain, and workforce challenges.  

Download the paper here. To read the press release, click here.

By The Hon. Dr. John E. Whitley
with The Hon. David L. Norquist and The Hon. Lisa S. Disbrow