Abstract Budgetary cuts are characterized by distinct political, organizational, and psychological dynamics in contrast to increases. Ideally, policymakers rank, prioritize, and assess among likely strategic challenges to identify the appropriate offices, programs, line items, or service branches in which to curtail spending. Targeted cuts—preserving some line items or services while cutting others—occurred during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, and Clinton administrations. In contrast, the Nixon, H.W. Bush, and Obama administrations implemented across-the-board cuts, impacting all areas of the budget uniformly, regardless of strategic priorities. We argue that the ability of the executive to target and redirect spending commensurate with national security needs are constrained by domestic interests. However, the degree to which the threat environment is diverse conditions the number of available policy options and, in turn, executive capacity to implement targeted cuts vis-à-vis parochial interests.

中文翻译：

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斧头还是手术刀？国内政治、国际威胁和美国军事开支削减，1950 年至 2014 年

摘要 与增加相比，预算削减的特点是不同的政治、组织和心理动态。理想情况下，政策制定者对可能的战略挑战进行排序、优先排序和评估，以确定适当的办公室、项目、项目或服务部门，以减少支出。有针对性的削减——在削减其他项目或服务的同时保留一些项目或服务——发生在艾森豪威尔、肯尼迪、福特和克林顿政府期间。相比之下，尼克松、HW 布什和奥巴马政府实施了全面削减，统一影响预算的所有领域，无论战略重点如何。我们认为，行政部门根据国家安全需要瞄准和调整支出的能力受到国内利益的限制。然而，