Abstract
The article presents information on a new program which allows the U.S. Defense Department to forecast defense expenses five year ahead with reasonable accuracy. The new system of program packaging determines the over-all strategy, then fitting the hardware and the manpower to those objectives. This system results in a strategic grouping that eliminates interservice duplication and cross-purpose development. The U.S. Defense Department conducted a thorough review of our defense objectives for the next five to ten years and a five-year program consistent with those objectives. Finally, it translated the first year of the five-year program into a detailed budget for fiscal year 1963. The major types of capabilities the department wanted were clear from the start. In the event that the U.S. or its allies were the victim of a thermonuclear attack, it wanted the capability to survive and then respond with a retaliatory nuclear strike. To minimize the success of the aggressor's first strike, the department wanted the capability to defend the U.S. against the enemy's strategic weapons.