PRESS ROOM

Few, it seems, were fooled: “At a time when the greatest challenges to human lives and livelihoods stem from threats like pandemics and climate change, sustaining Pentagon spending at over three quarters of a trillion dollars a year is both bad budgeting and bad security policy,” the Center for International Policy’s William Hartung said. Hartung’s criticism will be echoed in the weeks ahead, as the Biden defense budget becomes an increasing focus for a badly divided Congress.

“Given Solarwinds and other episodes of hacking into U.S.-based data networks it makes sense to invest more in cybersecurity, but the Pentagon will not necessarily be the most important player in dealing with broader cyber-challenges to infrastructure, the electrical grid, communications networks, and banking systems,” explained William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy.

The Biden administration released its proposed $715-billion defense budget this morning. First up on today’s show, William Hartung, director of the arms and security program at the Center for International Policy, puts the budget in context and discusses the wastefulness of military spending.

“At over $750 billion, the Biden administration’s proposal for spending on the Pentagon and related work on nuclear weapons at the Department of Energy is both excessive and misguided,” said William Hartung, director of the arms and security initiative at the Center for International Policy, a doveish think tank.

“At a time when the greatest challenges to human lives and livelihoods stem from threats like pandemics and climate change, sustaining Pentagon spending at over three quarters of a trillion dollars a year is both bad budgeting and bad security policy,” Hartung said.

Our William Hartung is quoted in this Common Dreams article critiquing the notion that anti-terrorist wars boost the economy: "Though it's seldom noted, virtually any other form of spending creates more jobs than weapons production. In addition, exporting green-technology products would create far larger global markets for U.S. goods, should the government ever decide to support them in anything like the way it supports the arms industry."

"A new analysis from the Center for International Policy, a foreign policy think tank in Washington, found that 'In 2020 alone, the CEOs of the [Pentagon’s] top five contractors received a total of $105.4 million in compensation.'" CIP's issue brief and data chart on CEO compensation in the arms industry is featured in this Jacobin article.

In this USA Today article, our Lauren Woods is quoted extensively: "America's military aid to Israel is unique in at least three ways – scale, lack of transparency and long-term commitment," says Lauren Woods, who analyzes U.S. security assistance at the Center for International Policy, a Washington research organization

“Continued spending on unnecessary weapons systems like a new Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile is a particularly egregious misuse of taxpayer funds, diverting billions of dollars from other urgent national priorities,” said William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy.

A recent report by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft on the state of the think tank industry reached similar conclusions. The report sensibly advocated an array of measures to mitigate apparent conflicts of interest and increase transparency at think tanks. In the long term, the report claimed, the benefits of more transparency about funding will outweigh any short-term reputational harm.

"Selling death should be no joy for any country, so halting it is a goal well worth fighting for. Still, it remains to be seen whether the Biden administration will ever limit weapons sales or if it will simply continue to promote this country as the world’s top arms exporter of all time." Read the full piece by our William Hartung featured here on CounterPunch magazine.

Our William Hartung's analysis of Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 Pentagon budget proposal featured in Forbes

The full details of the Biden administration’s Fiscal Year 2022 Pentagon budget proposal are set for May 28 – the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. While the choice of release date suggests a desire to bury the document, thereby reducing detailed news coverage and analysis, this public relations gambit is unlikely to work. There’s too much at stake.