Faced with mounting costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention a growing federal deficit, the Pentagon is bracing for billions of dollars in budget cuts for the first time since 9/11. Although the Defense Department's 2006 budget will not be formally released until February, some of the military's largest weapons systems—including the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor and the Navy's shipbuilding program—are reportedly in jeopardy.

How should the Pentagon adjust its acquisition strategy in a time of both war and fiscal austerity? Who will be biggest winners and losers in this process? What will be the impact of the Bush administration's belt-tightening on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's vision for military transformation? How will the budget cuts affect the defense industry?

These and other questions will be the subject of an AEI panel discussion. Participants include Dov Zakheim, former under secretary of defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Pentagon (2001–2004); Steven Kosiak, director of budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments; Michael O'Hanlon, Sydney Stein Jr. Chair in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution; and Loren B. Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute. Thomas Donnelly, AEI resident fellow in defense and security policy, will moderate.