CRITERIA FOR PLANNING THE TRANSITION TO LOWER DEFENSE SPENDING

Expected cuts in defense spending will not constitute a large enough portion of gross national product to have significant effects on the U.S. economy. Nevertheless, the United States has invested vast resources in developing human and physical capital for military production. If defense requirements, military personnel, and industrial capacity shift rapidly to nondefense work, it will be difficult for them to move back quickly to the military sector, and, therefore, the defense mobilization base will have been weakened, if not destroyed. The transition should be planned in order to maintain an adequate mobilization and surge capability and to ensure that research and development do not atrophy. © 1991, SAGE PUBLICATIONS. All rights reserved.