PRESS ROOM

The report, authored by William Hartung of the Center for International Policy, said $4.4 trillion of the total spending went towards weapons procurement and research and development, a category that directly benefits corporate military contractors. Private contractors are also paid through other funds, like operations and maintenance, but those numbers are harder to determine.

"William Hartung, a scholar on security assistance at the Center for International Policy, said the decision to impose conditions on a small share of the overall amount was “both inadequate and disappointing."

"If it were only the money, that would be outrageous enough," Hartung, the director of the arms and security program at the Center for International Policy, said of instances where the Pentagon's reliance on contractors backfired. "But the fact it undermined the mission and put troops at risk is even more outrageous."

"A study released Monday that illuminates how defense contractors benefitted from the war in Afghanistan showed that they pocketed up to half of the $14 trillion spent by the Department of Defense since 9/11."

"The Center for International Policy’s Bill Hartung, in coordination with Brown University’s Costs of War Project, says that of that $14 trillion, “$4.4 trillion went for weapons procurement and research and development (R&D), categories that primarily benefit corporate contractors.”"

This week's policy monitor examines the availability and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the African continent.

"According to Hartung's analysis, from "one-third to one-half" of the Pentagon's $14 trillion in spending since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan on October 2001 went to defense contractors, which spend heavily on government lobbying."

"Hartung wrote that the Pentagon’s increasing reliance on private contractors over the last two decades raises questions of accountability, transparency, and effectiveness."

"In the post-9/11 wars, U.S. corporations contracted by the Defense Department not only handled war-zone logistics like running fuel convoys and staffing chow lines but performed mission-crucial work like training and equipping Afghan security forces — security forces that collapsed last month as the Taliban swept the country."

"Statistic of the day: Between one-third and one-half of the Pentagon’s spending since Sept. 11 has gone to for-profit military contractors. That’s according to the latest study from Brown University’s Costs of War project and the Center for International Policy."

"The reaction to the 9/11 attacks created a political climate that opened the floodgates to massive increases in Pentagon spending, with few questions asked," said William Hartung, who authored the report."

"Why is meddling in US politics by one authoritarian regime, the UAE, treated differently from meddling by authoritarian regimes like Russia and China?" ask Bawa and Freeman. They say that money is a factor before revealing the huge sums paid by Abu Dhabi to some of Washington's most well-known think tanks.