PRESS ROOM

“If you hire a congressman to represent you, that congressman is much more likely to have their former colleagues open their doors, answer their phone calls and grant meetings,” Freeman said. After that happens, he added, “then it’s just easier for them to make their pitch on behalf of one of these foreign powers.”

"Coupled with nearly $20 billion in warhead funding, another $20 billion for missile defense, and $6 billion on environmental cleanup, and the overall nuclear budget rockets to a stratospheric $75 billion, roughly 10% of the total defense budget notes Bill Hartung, the director of the arms and security program at the Center for International Policy."

when you look at the number killed, you have to look at, say, 9,000, rather than almost than 4,500. That does not take into account the suicides. The suicides from these wars, based upon Veterans Administration data, runs between 9,000 and 10,000 killed by suicide.

As of 2019, the annual Pentagon base budget, plus war budget, plus nuclear weapons in the Department of Energy, plus military spending by the Department of Homeland Security, plus interest on deficit military spending, and other military spending totaled $1.25 trillion, as calculated by William Hartung and Many Smithberger.

The Trump administration added six additional countries to its widely controversial travel ban. Among the countries included is Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. This executive order won’t take effect until February 22 but many within the Nigerian community are worried. Nigeria’s top diplomat was “somewhat blindsided” by the ban. While he works with American officials to lift visa restrictions, many wonder what the fallout of these restrictions will be. To learn more about the travel ban, check out this briefing created by our Africa Program: https://infogram.com/1t07gpvmq82w9qb8ee4o934ld9t3v961zm1

The Center for International Policy (CIP), a nonprofit foreign policy "think tank," recently published "Sustainable Defense: More Security, Less Spending," a report that details $1.2 trillion in defense savings over 10 years without jeopardize national defense. That averages $120 billion in yearly savings – enough to largely fund infrastructure renewal. Even greater cuts over the next decade ranging from $2 trillion to $3.5 trillion are proposed by other Washington-based advocacy organizations. While the figures may vary, the conclusion is the same – the Pentagon budget is bloated and can be reduced. These are the savings that can be redirected to support other, unmet needs.

Despite significant human rights laws already on the books, the United States continues to arm and enable repressive regimes around the world, with disastrous humanitarian and security impacts. It’s time for Congress to pass legislation that can change this dangerous and unacceptable status quo.

William Hartung of the Center for International Policy returns to Press the Button to discuss the exploding nuclear budget: why it's happening, what it means for spending on other things, and why it's so dangerous.

Worth the Price? Joe Biden and the Launch of the Iraq War is a documentary short reviewing the role of then-Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) in leading the United States into the most devastating foreign policy blunder of the last twenty years. Produced and directed by Mark Weisbrot and narrated by Danny Glover, the film features archival footage, as well as policy experts who provide insight and testimony with regard to Joe Biden’s role as the Chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 2002.

Positive reinforcement of think tanks with positions that happen to align with those of foreign powers still has great influence, whether think tanks are conscious of it or not.

Almost from the beginning of the US-supported regime-change project in Syria, US policymakers have incorporated several kinds of planning for what is called “transitional justice” into their pursuit of the project.

Sudan's former president is one step closer to prosecution for the egregious war crimes he allegedly committed. During Omar al-Bashir’s 30 years in power, Sudan descended into civil war. Now, as the country’s transitional government conducts peace talks with rebel leaders, it has agreed to send Bashir to trial. Amna Nawaz gets analysis from Salih Booker of the Center for International Policy.