Phil Carter has a useful piece on the budget and policy battles ahead for the U.S. military, as it works to transform itself for the future while fighting a global war. His related articles set is a fertile source of additional background, and I'd also recommend 3 recent Winds of Change.NET pieces. In escalating order of depth, they are:
- How Militaries Innovate (Or Don't). So, what's this "Innovator's Dilemma" thing, anyway? And why is "jointness" important?
- How Many Troops? What Type? How did we get here? What's next? Tim Oren discusses U.S. force structure.
- The Pentagon's 2005 Cuts... and Culture talks about the underlying issues that are creating capabilities gaps even as military funding remains high.
Also The Coming Multipolar World is useful.
In regards to your "The Pentagon's 2005 Cuts... and Culture" piece (and Carter's piece as well), I think the best way to prevent pork-barrel politics is to transform Congress away from geographical representation and more towards a ideologies (via Proportional Representation). After all, there's no reason for local interests to be represented in the federal government.
That way, decisions on military projects on will focus more on their effectiveness in war, and not on their impact on jobs of Congressional districts (since there will be no need for districts at all).