1、M A Y 2 0 1 4 P O L I C Y B R I E FBeyond the QDRKey Issues Facing the National Defense PanelBy Nora BensahelIn early June,the congressionally mandated National Defense Panel(NDP)will issue its independent assessment of the Department of Defense(DOD)2014 Quadrennial Defense Review(QDR).The defense s
2、trategy outlined in the QDR does not break much conceptual new ground,since it largely reaffirms the strategic priorities identified in the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance(DSG).1 In light of the very significant cuts to the defense budget triggered by the 2011 Budget Control Act,the 2014 QDR describ
3、es a defense strategy that is far more informed by the budget context than any previous version of the report,and thus provides more details about some of the difficult trade-offs and choices facing the DOD leadership.As inevitably occurs with documents that result from an extensive bureaucratic pro
4、cess,however,the QDR still includes many broad statements that raise more questions than answers.It also offers little implementation guidance,partly because bureau-cratic stakeholders who are disadvantaged by specific guidance often succeed in watering down the lan-guage contained in the final repo
