And that's -- the budgeters understand how this works and what you measure against.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefings

Budgeters, anxious to cut short-term costs, reportedly gave up on finding the funds to buy additional C-17s, deciding instead on a treacherous path of cut corners, hedged risks and greater future costs.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The QDR and strategic mobility

In the absence of a clear and driving threat, such as that provided by the Soviet Union, its role was as a placeholder, allowing defense planners and budgeters to define a useful and affordable military capability that could respond to the range of known demands and unknown future contingencies.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | The Measure of a Superpower: A Two Major Regional Contingency Military for the 21st Century