Congress passed declaration of war language for World Wars I and II that provides the military with practically unlimited resources and relaxed accountability during times of war. This "lank check policy," while not an official policy, continued through twentieth-century wars. Toward the latter half of the twentieth century, the war powers struggle between the Legislative and Executive Branches resulted in instances of Congress under-funding war efforts and increased scrutiny of in-theater spending. In spite of the under-funding, the Defense Department continued to extend the blank check policy of spending to the combatant commander. The shortfall of funding was filled by reprogramming of annual appropriations for Vietnam, contingencies of the 1990s and the current war in Iraq. This thesis builds on the studies of Walter Rundell, Leonard Taylor and William Rogerson who pioneered the critique of financial management in combat. Building on these works, the resource management environment of Multi-National Force-Iraq is critically analyzed. The negative consequences of excessive spending are discussed. These consequences are linked to the strategic mission and the support of the American people, which ultimately determines the funding levels of the Defense Department. Benefits gained in the blank check policy are compared to the negative consequences.

Approved for public release: distribution unlimited / This thesis identifies and analyses the main aspects and challenges that have occurred to Georgia's National Security after regaining independence. Economic Security is the initial subject of analysis. The thesis examines the Ministry of Defense as a public sector agency; the problems in government institutions resulting from the old Soviet mentality and the lack of leadership skills in a democratic society which led to Georgia's political crisis and economic decline, as occurs to most countries in transition; specifics about the distribution of financial power in an unstable economic environment decline and the negative effects of instability on defense reform processes, particularly in the implementation of the PPB(E) System. The intent of this research is to explain the interrelationships of harmonious, sustainable growth and PPB(E) as an established system for transparency. The thesis provides a record and explanation of events that caused the current problems in defense planning and the budgeting process as well as recommendations for future improvements to the PPB(E) System in the Georgian Armed Forces (GAF). The main focus is on policy formulation and budget execution; performance; accountability; fiscal discipline; and transparency. The conclusion summarizes the paper, which presented the arguments for successful reforming processes in the GAF, particularly in its medium-term budgeting cycle. / Major, Georgian Army

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Over the past 30 years the costs of higher education have climbed faster than the rate the inflation. As these costs have risen, state appropriations for public institutions have not kept pace. While not declining in real dollars, as a portion of meeting the expenses of funding public higher education, state appropriations have been steadily falling over the past three decades. Not surprisingly, during this period tuition at public colleges and universities has risen dramatically, leading to concerns about access to higher education, in particular for students of low income backgrounds.The literature contains many studies highlighting the increasing costs and tuition charged by public colleges and universities. Little has been written about the specific relationship between the level of state appropriations at a particular institution and the pricing and financial aid policies it then adopts. By analyzing the data for public institutions in the Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System (IPEDS) as well as data for specific students in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS) for five school years spanning 1989-1990 to 2003-2004, this study conducts a quantitative analysis to create a predictive model capable of forecasting the impact of changes in state appropriation on institution pricing and financial aid policy. In an environment where the continued decline of state appropriations as a portion of meeting educational costs is a real possibility, such forecasting ability may prove invaluable in crafting policies to insure access to higher education for certain student populations.

Growing world-wide commitments and potential naval threats in the future will challenge the U.S. maritime forces to become more integrated and interoperable. The Total Fleet Concept calls for a maritime force for the nation that essentially combines the assets and unique capabilities of each maritime agency available to the U.S. government and forms a scalable force that can be employed around the globe to accomplish missions in the national interest. The U.S. Navy is the preeminent maritime power in the world. However, it has concentrated almost exclusively on maintaining its capability at the Blue-water level of operations. In light of the emerging asymmetrical threat from non-peer competitor forces, the Navy has embarked on a stated program of building up its littoral and lowlevel regional capability in order to engage these adversaries in their own environment. This thesis studies the Navy's budget requests of the Future Years Defense Program. It also examines whether these budget requests and the long-range 30-year shipbuilding plan is leading to the transformational Fleet that is envisioned by the Total Fleet Concept, or is a continuation of the predominantly Blue-water operations focused Fleet and the assets that accompany that strategy. / US Navy (USN) author.

This thesis describes the evolution of the defense budget process in Ukraine, from independence to 2006. It identifies and evaluates factors that directly affected the development of the defense budget process and determined the distribution of power in that process and examines the efficiency of defense budgets as policy tools. This study contributes towards an understanding of the relative power of the executive versus the legislative branch in shaping defense policy. It concludes that important but limited progress has occurred in the defense budget realm in Ukraine since independence. The absence of a clear political guidance, deficiencies of defense legislation, and insufficient levels of co-operation between the executive and the legislative branch of the government are key problems involved in defense budgeting and reform in Ukraine. Certain improvements and overall intensification of efforts occurred as a result of the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan in 2002. Actions undertaken by the Ukrainian government during the period from 2002 to the beginning of 2006, including the introduction of the law On Organization of the Defense Planning in 2004, had a minimal impact because of insufficient interest at the legislative level.

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Pell Grant funding is without question foundational to the American community college mission – providing access to higher education to over 9 million students. Pell Grants are particularly important in the 2-year sector, where such a large number of students are from low-income socioeconomic areas. In December 2011, then-President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act (2012) which significantly changed the Pell Grant program for college students by making 3 major changes to the eligibility criteria for Pell Grants. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of these 3 changes at the national, state, and local level to estimate the impact felt by colleges and students across the United States. This quantative study utilized data from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS) as well as from a mid-sized urban college located in the state of Minnesota. Both regression analysis and seasonal time decomposition techniques were conducted to determine the estimated number and amount of Pell Grant award post Act compared to actual. The findings of this study indicated a significant correlation between the model and the output when used with national and local data. Not all of the state models produced significant results.

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