Why has waste at the Pentagon been so hard to rein in? Simple: The military-industrial complex profits from waste.
Donald Trump: Foreign Policy’s Useful Idiot?
It might take someone of Trump’s vapid visibility to drive home the point that “world’s policeman” is not a viable role for the U.S. to play.
Here’s What a Budget That Prioritizes Peace Looks Like
The budget proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus de-funds the Pentagon and invests new money in transitioning away from America’s military-dependent economy.
6 Reasons Not to Reboot the Cold War
The Obama administration’s final Pentagon budget calls for quadrupling spending on efforts to counter Russia.
Sorry, but the Super Bowl Promotes War
With its huge advertising budget, the Pentagon’s turning war into just another game.
The U.S. Has an Empire of Bases in the Middle East — and It’s Not Making Anyone Safer
Thirty-six years into the U.S. base build-up in the Greater Middle East, military force has failed as a strategy for controlling the region, no less defeating terrorist organizations.
Don’t Ask the Pentagon Where Its Money Goes
The Pentagon is long overdue for an audit of its $555 billion budget, but Congress has failed to hold it accountable.
Trade-Offs Needed to Enhance U.S. Soft Power
Retired Gen. David Petraeus and Michael O’Hanlon are correct that we should protect funding for the State Department and the Agency for International Development (“Fund — Don’t Cut — U.S. Soft Power” POLITICO, May 1) because doing so enhances our national security. Their comments are in line with those of former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who made this point several times during his time in office.
No Peace Dividend? Not So Fast
The Obama administration’s budget included a promissory note. It will take them a few more weeks to tell us what they plan to spend next year on the Afghan War. Their intention to bring that war to an end, though, is clear.
Defense Braces for a Bad Decade
The unthinkable has happened. Sequestration — automatic cuts falling equally on the defense and nondefense parts of the budget — is now in effect. And whatever the results of political maneuvering in the weeks and months to come, “The defense industry,” as a recent article in Politico put it, “isbracing for a bad decade … Senior Republicans on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees acknowledge a shrinking military is inevitable as the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan after more than a decade of war.”