PRESS ROOM

A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) makes the case for rethinking the development, deployment and policies on land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). Former Secretary of Defense William Perry has rightly called these systems “some of the most dangerous weapons in the world” because they could trigger an accidental nuclear war. The UCS report underscores the fact that ICBMs are both dangerous and unnecessary.

William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security program at the Center for International Policy, told me the committee approving “$740 billion is politically and strategically tone deaf,” given that the major national security challenges facing the United States are not military in nature, but fueled by climate change, pandemics, and rampant inequality due to race and income.

Most Americans want to sleep soundly in our beds because warriors stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. But they tend not to care how that happens. That shifts the power to those who really do care…like the congressional ICBM Coalition, as William Hartung of the Center for International Policy explains in this June 8 fact sheet.

A common attempt to justify these sales is the claim that they sustain many jobs, which are particularly vital during the pandemic. However, these claims have been widely debunked in the United States. A report by the Center for International Policy outlines how jobs generated by arms sales make up far less than what Mr. Trump claims; its director, William Hartung, recently noted that such jobs make up less than one-tenth of 1 per cent of U.S. employment.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has released its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and the results are disappointing, to put it mildly. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme racial and economic inequality, and the continuing ravages of climate change have underscored the need for a radically new approach to security, the committee’s decisions were politically and strategically tone deaf.

Increased militarization on the continent under Trump is part of a long history of institutionalized racism in U.S. foreign policy.

"It is outrageous that the Pentagon is supplying armored vehicles to local police departments that have been used to intimidate peaceful protesters and abet violent police crackdowns," said William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy, a left-leaning foreign policy think tank.

“Taiwan is an interesting case because we know Taiwan gives a good amount of money to think tanks, and we know they have a good amount of influence around town,” said Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy.

The Center for International Policy’s Ben Freeman, who studies foreign government influence in the U.S., said while the bad actors appear to represent less than 0.1% of the total grantees, a single scientist giving cutting-edge research to China could harm U.S. national security.

A common attempt to justify these sales is the claim that they sustain many jobs, which are particularly vital during the pandemic. However, these claims have been widely debunked in the United States. A report by the Center for International Policy outlines how jobs generated by arms sales make up far less than what Mr. Trump claims; its director, William Hartung, recently noted that such jobs make up less than one-tenth of 1 per cent of U.S. employment.

Donald Trump has crossed many red lines over the past three and a half years, but he has finally crossed one that could cost him politically. The trappings of his fascist march to St. John’s Episcopal Church and his blasphemous display of a bible (held backwards and upside down) in front of the church have elicited significant criticism, including from the highest military and civilian leaders of the Pentagon.

Donald Trump’s outrageous attacks on the World Health Organization and withholding of funds have weakened an essential organization for dealing with the pandemic. Further, it has left the United States isolated in the international community and given China the opportunity to take over America’s WHO leadership role.