Skip Navigation
| Skip Navigation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unless otherwise indicated, all dollar amounts referred to in this paper are in 1999 dollars. |
In recent years, the U.S. military has contributed more and more forces and funding to operations designed to provide humanitarian assistance or keep the peace. The United States' growing role in peace operations worldwide raises two major concerns: how well prepared are U.S. troops to participate in such operations, and how does that participation affect their ability to fulfill their primary mission--to fight and win two major regional wars that break out nearly simultaneously?
This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) paper reviews U.S. contributions to peace operations and examines the challenges that the military faces in carrying out those operations while trying to stay ready for conventional war. The analysis looks at how the Army and Marine Corps have responded to those challenges and examines four alternative approaches that the Army, in particular, could take to improve its ability to perform both missions. The paper responds to a request from the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. In keeping with CBO's mandate to provide objective and nonpartisan analysis, it contains no recommendations.
Laurinda Zeman of CBO's National Security Division prepared the paper with the assistance of Delia Welsh and the supervision of Christopher Jehn and R. William Thomas. Former CBO analysts Frances Lussier, Neil Singer, and Elizabeth Stanley performed much of the analysis and wrote earlier drafts of the paper. Jo Ann Vines, Jeannette Deshong, and Matthew Martin of CBO's Budget Analysis Division performed the cost analysis under the supervision of Michael Miller. Marvin M. Smith thoroughly reviewed the manuscript before publication. The authors would also like to thank the numerous people from the Army, the Marine Corps, RAND, and the Army's Peacekeeping Institute who provided essential information and comments. Of course, all responsibility for the analysis lies with the authors and CBO.
Christian Spoor edited the manuscript, and Sherry Snyder proofread it.
Kathryn Quattrone produced the figures, Cindy Cleveland prepared the paper
for publication, and Laurie Brown prepared the electronic versions for
CBO's World Wide Web site (www.cbo.gov).
Dan L. Crippen
Director
December 1999
I - U.S. MILITARY PARTICIPATION IN PEACE OPERATIONS
II - HOW WELL PREPARED ARE THE ARMY AND MARINE CORPS FOR PEACE OPERATIONS?
III - HOW DO PEACE OPERATIONS
AFFECT READINESS FOR CONVENTIONAL WAR?
APPENDIX - Sources of Data
for the Analysis
| TABLES | |
| S-1. | Four Illustrative Approaches to Improve the Army's Conduct of Peace Operations |
| 1. | Major U.S. Peace Operations Since 1980 |
| 2. | Incremental Costs to DoD of Selected Peace Operations, Fiscal Years 1991-1998 |
| 3. | Four Illustrative Approaches to Improve the Army's Conduct of Peace Operations |
| FIGURES | |
| S-1. | Number of U.S. Forces Deployed to Major Peace Operations, Calendar Years 1982-1998 |
| S-2. | U.S. Funding for Peace Operations, Fiscal Years 1981-1998 |
| 1. | Number of U.S. Forces Deployed to Major Peace Operations, by Operation, Calendar Years 1982-1998 |
| 2. | U.S. Funding for Peace Operations, by Type of Cost, Fiscal Years 1981-1998 |
| 3. | Incremental Costs of Peace Operations, by Service, Fiscal Years 1994-1998 |
| 4. | Incremental Costs to DoD of Major Peace Operations, by Operation, Fiscal Years 1981-1998 |
| 5. | Incremental Costs to DoD of Peace Operations, by Budget Account, Fiscal Years 1994-1998 |
| 6. | Effect of Peace Operations on Unit Training Readiness, by Amount of Overlap Between Unit's Skills for Peace Operations and Conventional War |
| 7. | Effect of Peace Operations on Unit Readiness, by Type of Unit |
| 8. | Degradation of Skills Because of Peace Operations, by Type of Unit and Level of Aggregation |
| BOXES | |
| 1. | Recommended Army Training for Peace Operations |
| 2. | The Twenty-Nine Capabilities of a Marine Expeditionary Unit |
| 3. | Two Views of How Funding Peace Operations Affects Military Readiness |
| 4. | The Structure of U.S. Army Units |
