PRESS ROOM

China is several years ahead of America in developing this military technology, which can fly lower, faster, and penetrate missile defense systems. "The most destabilizing threat to the homeland," Hayes called it.

After last month’s Chinese test of a hypersonic missile, Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Mark Milley described it as “very close” to a “Sputnik moment,” alluding to the Soviet Union’s 1957 satellite launch that sent shock waves through U.S. media, government, and society. The concern was that if Moscow could put a radio beacon into orbit, a nuclear-armed, long-range ballistic missile could not be far behind.

“By enlisting trusted community members across the United States to help peddle the best possible version of the kingdom, the Saudi lobby has given its brand a homegrown, American-as-apple-pie shine,” analysts Ben Freeman, Brian Steiner and Leila Riazi of the Center for International Policy think tank wrote in April.

Even as Congress moves to increase the Pentagon budget well beyond the astronomical levels proposed by the Biden administration, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has outlined three different ways to cut $1 trillion in Department of Defense spending over the next decade. A rational defense policy could yield far more in the way of reductions, but resistance from the Pentagon, weapons contractors, and their many allies in Congress would be fierce.

Last week’s offer of $650 million in air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia is the latest example of the Biden Administration’s failure to fulfill its promises to change U.S. policy towards that nation. Early on, it appeared that President Biden would depart from the Trump administration’s record of uncritical support for the government of Saudi Arabia, which persisted despite that regime’s killing of civilians in Yemen and its murder of U.S.-resident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But the administration’s record has been mixed at best. It has halted two bomb sales to the Saudi regime, but it has offered $500 million in crucial maintenance and support for Saudi attack helicopters that have been used in Yemen and continued the flow of billions of U.S. arms tied to offers made in prior years. Most importantly, the administration has refused to use U.S. leverage – in the form of a threat to cut off crucial U.S. spare parts and sustainment for the Saudi military – to force Riyadh to end its devastating blockade on Yemen and move towards an inclusive peace agreement to end the war.

Ben Freeman discusses the FEC's decision to allow foreign money to corrupt state ballot initiatives on the Background Briefing podcast with Ian Masters.

William Hartung was interviewed on KPFA-FM in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the topic of Pentagon spending.

While we say much about successful foreign influence efforts, we almost never ever talk about foreign influence fails. That changes today. I present to you, perhaps the greatest foreign influence fail in recent memory: The Turkey lobby.

“Last week’s offer of $650 million in air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia is the latest example of the Biden administration’s failure to fulfill its promises to change US policy towards that nation,” said William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy.

“He was kind of a gadfly and a protector of taxpayers’ trust,” recalls William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy. “He was very into government ethics. He took little to no campaign contributions, he did a lot of campaigning just by walking his district. He was kind of ascetic, in some ways, certainly not open to things like gifts from special interests or anything like that.”

“Issues of democracy, freedom of speech, and journalism but also the fight against terrorism, it’s not an easy thing to strike a balance between,” Turkish presidential spokesperson, İbrahim Kalın, said at a virtual event in December 2020. His comment came just days before the release of a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists which found that Turkey has been in the midst of a brutal crackdown on freedom of speech and that, besides China, Turkey had imprisoned more journalists than any other country in the world.

The U.S. military budget is larger than those of the next 11 highest spenders combined. William Hartung, Director of the Arms & Security Program at the Center for International Policy discusses what cuts would make military spending more efficient.