A battle over the defense budget is heating up in Congress, as the House Budget Committee appears set to put forward a resolution maintaining defense spending levels in line with Budget Control Act spending limits. Outside of Congress though, debates are taking place that could influence the size and shape of the military for years to come. With that in mind, here are some articles and reports to get you up to speed:

– Dr. Jerry Hendrix of the Center for a New American Security authors a report on a strategy to get America’s fiscal house in order while maintaining U.S. global leadership.

– Dr. James Holmes of the Naval War College has an interesting piece at RealClearDefense on how the U.S. Navy needs a “paradigm shift.” One might ask though after reading whether Dr. Holmes’ suggestion for a “new” paradigm is much different than the Navy’s “old” paradigm?

– The Heritage Foundation released a lengthy report this week assessing U.S. military strength, which  it finds lacking due to (not surprisingly) inadequate funding. The report contains a great deal of useful information, but as Franz-Stefan Gady of The Diplomat argues, its methodology — which defines U.S. national interests as broadly as possible and ignores U.S. military strength relative to potential adversaries — leaves much to be desired.

– Finally, in case you missed it, I had a piece at RealClearDefense this week arguing that new Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter should encourage competition among the military services to produce better oversight, spur innovation, and improve strategic planning.