Dr. Eric Labs is the Senior Analyst for Naval Forces and Weapons at the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, D.C.  He specializes in issues related to the procurement, budgeting, and sizing of the forces for the Department of the Navy and the Coast Guard.  Dr. Labs has testified before Congress numerous times and published many reports under the auspices of the Congressional Budget Office as well as articles and papers in academic journals and conferences, including the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings, Sea Power magazine, the Naval War College Review, and Security Studies. He has given presentations to a variety of industry, government, and academic audiences.  Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson awarded him the Navy Superior Public Service Award in February 2019. Dr. Labs has received CBO’s highest honor, the Director’s Award for Exceptional Achievement, in 2001, 2003, 2007, 2014, and 2024.

Dr. Labs earned his doctorate in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from Tufts University, summa cum laude, in 1988.  He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year. Dr. Labs worked for the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis in Cambridge, Massachusetts and, from 1994 to 1995, as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Security Studies at the University of Maryland.  He has been with the Congressional Budget Office since 1995.