PRESS ROOM

In order to address serious domestic concerns, the United States must seek significant savings by reducing the Pentagon budget, ending endless wars, and returning to the arms control and disarmament arena.

In his 2012 book Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex, William D. Hartung noted that seeking to write your own rules and to enjoy an endless win-win scenario in the defense industry is nothing new. Since World War One, the defense industry benefited from “cost-plus contracts” where expenses were paid back by the government and automatic profit minimums were established. As Hartung writes, “these generous deals were compounded by a lack of effective oversight and minimal accountability for any malfeasance or misfeasance carried out with the taxpayers’ money.”

William D. Hartung, a security analyst at the Center for International Policy, said Pentagon officials rightly point out that there are real-world limitations to relying on the military as a major player in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. “There is no substitute for a robust civilian response,” he said. “However, given that we are facing a national emergency, the Department of Defense should be showing a greater sense of urgency and flexibility in determining how best to add its existing resources to the fight against the coronavirus.”

"According to William Hartung, total Saudi military spending in 2018 was 67 billion dollar, accounting for the third-biggest level of arms spending in the world, behind the United States and China, but slightly ahead of Russia."

Drawing out the trends and patterns that have defined U.S. Middle East strategy over the past two decades is essential to understanding why American engagement with the region has proved so dissatisfying.

“This fits a pattern that we’ve seen with Emirati influence in the U.S…. they really spread their influence around."

Saudi Arabia has just offered to host a “Virtual” G20 summit, bringing the world’s leaders together to address the coronavirus pandemic. While the world absolutely needs much better international coordination in response to this catastrophic pandemic, Saudi Arabia’s ruling family is one of the last governments we should want convening a conversation on solving any humanitarian crisis, let alone a crisis of this magnitude.

(Note: This article is based on a briefing for activists who will be participating in the Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS), which are being held from April 10th through May 9th, 2020.) Looked at on a global scale, in 2018 U.S. spending on the Pentagon is greater than the amounts spent by the next seven nations combined — China, Saudi Arabia, India, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Five of these seven nations are U.S. allies.

While continuing U.S. dominance of the arms trade may be good news for major weapons makers like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon, it is a troubling development with respect its strategic and humanitarian impacts. Most concerning is the U.S. arms trade with Saudi Arabia, which saw its share of global weapons imports more than double in 2015 to 2019, the period coinciding with its brutal intervention in Yemen, a war that has resulted in over 100,000 deaths and put millions at risk of famine.

The security of United States and the world depends on far more than throwing money at the Pentagon to deal with potential military challenges. The spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) underscores this fact.

“The U.S. military should be considering alternative approaches like better coordination with African regional and continental organizations and encouraging African governments to consider negotiations in certain cases."

It’s hard to overstate the cost — in dollars and security — of our many wars. What do the candidates say?