Marine Sgt. Cardy Ryan, a field radio operator, applies camouflage paint for a drill at the Jungle Warfare Training Center on Okinawa, Nov. 3, 2025. (Meshaq Hylton/U.S. Marine Corps)
The Pentagon has not given Congress a clear picture of how it prioritizes and funds deterrence efforts in the Indo-Pacific, leaving lawmakers without a full understanding of U.S. strategy as China expands its military reach, a government watchdog warned.
The Defense Department has failed to issue clear guidance on which programs should be included in its annual Pacific Deterrence Initiative budget report, the Government Accountability Office said in a Nov. 25 report.
“The result is a budget exhibit that may not reflect all the funded program priorities that [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command] needs for its regional strategy,” the GAO wrote.
Without reforms, “Congress will continue to face challenges in using it to assess progress toward deterrence and posture objectives in the Indo-Pacific,” the report concludes.
Congress established the annual reporting requirement in 2021 to track the Pentagon’s efforts to counter China’s growing presence in the region. The PDI — not a standalone funding stream — consists of both a detailed budget exhibit and an independent assessment by the head of INDOPACOM on needed resources.
But the Pentagon and INDOPACOM build their inputs separately, the GAO said, creating inconsistencies. Programs prioritized by the combatant command are sometimes omitted from the budget exhibit prepared by the DOD.
The GAO reviewed PDI budget exhibits for fiscal years 2023 through 2025 and identified major discrepancies across the military services. Some branches, such as the Air Force and Marine Corps, included facility sustainment programs; the Army and Navy did not.
Some services focused on activities west of the International Date Line, while others included operations to the east, according to the report.
Several DOD organizations also included development programs unlikely to be operational within five years, even though the PDI is intended to emphasize near-term deterrence, the GAO wrote.
Assumptions about force posture varied widely. The Marine Corps included most of its Indo-Pacific forces in its submissions. The Army and Air Force were more selective, while the Navy included “virtually none,” according to the report.
Navy officials told investigators that Pacific surface ships and submarines were not listed because the service was already funding those forces before the PDI’s creation.
By contrast, the Marines included the entire Okinawa-based III Marine Expeditionary Force in every PDI exhibit since 2023, arguing the force’s daily activities “contribute to … integrated deterrence efforts against China and thus meet the intent of PDI,” the GAO wrote.
The Pentagon agreed with the GAO’s recommendations, including clarifying program selection criteria and updating processes to ensure INDOPACOM’s priorities are fully incorporated into the annual assessment.
