The so-called “Unfunded Priorities Lists” seem to be here to stay at the Pentagon. This is the political theater when the uniformed heads of the military services provide Congress with lists of projects that didn’t make it into the budget. We say political theater because, back in the day, those lists would just magically appear on Capitol Hill with unknown provenance. (Wink, wink.) The practice was formalized on Capitol Hill with Members of Congress specifically asking for the list to give the service chief top cover from potential retribution from senior political appointees.

These used to be called “Unfunded Requirements Lists.” But a certain former Secretary of Defense (cough – Rumsfeld – cough!) supposedly said nothing that was an actual Pentagon requirement would be unfunded by his department. And, so, Unfunded Priorities became the preferred term.

Then another Secretary, Robert Gates, banned the practice altogether. The service chiefs were not to comply with any Congressional request for such lists. And that led to a statutory requirement for the service chiefs and the Combatant Commanders to produce the lists for Congress. We’re on the record for finding this practice unacceptable and just one way around the earmark ban. Today it’s giving corporate lobbyists a toehold to justify asking for billions more on top of a Fiscal Year  (FY) 2022 Pentagon budget request of $715 billion in discretionary spending and another $12.9 billion in mandatory spending. If, out of a whopping $727.9 billion Pentagon request the administration couldn’t find room for these programs, how big a “priority” can they be?

Looking just at the lists from the military services, we find very uneven practices in the FY22 requests.

The Navy clocks in with the highest dollar figure request of $6.3 billion for what they would like you to believe are only 31 programs as well as eight Military Construction projects. In fact, those 31 lines actually contain at least 46 separate identifiable programs – an approach the Air Force also takes (see below.) The most expensive is also listed as the top “priority,” an additional Arleigh Burke class Destroyer, for a whopping $1.6 billion. The smallest dollar figure is $12 million in Operations and Maintenance funds for “T-AGOS Maintenance and Repair.” This makes us wonder how, in a Pentagon request of well over $700 billion, a $12 million priority has been left out. That’s the real question.

The Army takes an “everything and the kitchen sink” approach and asks for 135 items for a total of $4.4 billion. They categorize their asks by assessing the risk of not funding each program as High, Significant, Moderate or Low. Not sure why they would admit something on the priority list is actually of low risk if not funded but it is, ironically – “Critical Organic Industrial Base Production Capacity.” Okay, is it “critical” or is there only a “low risk” if it isn’t funded?

The Air Force pretends they only have six items on its “Targeted UPL” of $3.4 billion. In fact, those six lines encompass at least 19 separately identifiable programs. Additionally, they ask for 30 Military Construction projects for another $735.8 million. So that’s a total of $4.1 billion for at least 49 different programs/projects. The largest chunk is $1.3 billion for an additional dozen F-15EX and various spare parts for those airframes, “needed to refresh an aging F-15C fleet.” Sounds like a very expensive trip to the spa.

The Marine Corps has a robust list of 71 programs and Military Construction projects for a more modest $2.9 billion. The largest Marine Corps request is $304 million for eight Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) sensors. The smallest is $2 million in Procurement dollars for “Composite Tracking Network.” Again, how did such a relatively inexpensive item not get funded in the overall Pentagon budget process? We have to assume it wasn’t a high enough “priority” overall. So why should Congress fund it now?

The brand-spanking-shiny-new Space Force doesn’t want to be left home while the rest of the military services go to the dance. A modest $1 billion request, of which about 15% is labeled as “classified” and not disclosed, was produced. The most expensive item, that is identifiable, is $255 million to accelerate “National Security Space Launch.” The cheapest is $20 million to increase investment in facilities maintenance. Again, maintaining facilities ought to be a normal part of the annual budget request. Funding it through some extra special “priorities list” seems backward and doesn’t bode well for the facilities now under the control of Space Force.

Again, these lists are a form of political Kabuki theater. The military services are aggrieved that some items on their budget wish lists were denied by either the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) or the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Corporate lobbyists are looking for ways to pressure Congress to add money for programs that didn’t make it into the budget. Congress is only too happy to have a justification for relenting to that corporate pressure.

Last year Taxpayers for Common Sense supported an amendment to end the statutory requirement for these wish lists. The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee also supported it. The amendment failed last year, but we’ll be back at it again. The Pentagon budget is massive enough without a legally-sanctioned method of circumventing the normal budget process.