PRESS ROOM

Writing for the Watson Institute’s Costs of War Project, William Hartung of the Center for International Policy recently offered a comprehensive assessment of who made how much over the last two decades. It is a depressing tale of corporate America doing well while the rest of America did badly, bleeding and paying.

In an astonishing move given how much money U.S. taxpayers already throw at the Pentagon year in and year out, the House of Representatives recently voted to increase the Biden administration’s request for the department by $24 billion. A similar measure will almost certainly be considered by the Senate when it debates the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

"The UAE officials being named means this was a conspiracy to interfere in US politics coordinated by the very top of the UAE government. After this revelation, anyone that thinks the UAE is a 'friend' of the US should think twice. Friends don't illegally interfere in each other's democracies," said Freeman.

The Department of Defense has transferred $1.8 billion worth of surplus, military-grade equipment to local law enforcement agencies across the United States since 1990 through a mechanism known as the 1033 Program.

A powerhouse DC lobbying firm has formally cut ties with the Saudi government office implicated in the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The move comes after an advocacy group Khashoggi founded launched a campaign to shame the firm and one of its top lobbyists.

Today, based on a report he did on the subject for the Center for International Policy and Brown University’s Costs of War Project, [William Hartung] offers a vision of wartime “success” that may be unparalleled amid the catastrophe of this country’s endlessly losing wars.

The Emiratis continue their illicit campaigns undermining American democracy without consequence.

Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, said the naming of the Emirati officials shows that Abu Dhabi is not the US ally it appears to be.

In a conversation with Responsible Statecraft, William D. Hartung, the director of the Arms and Security Program at Center for International Policy, identified four key ways the weapons industry impacts decision-making in Congress.

In his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly, President Biden assured the assembled world leaders that “we are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs.” If so, he needs to align his foreign policy with his rhetoric.

President Biden’s decision to direct the FBI to declassify key documents relating to Saudi Arabia’s connection to the 9/11 attacks is the latest example of his administration’s apparent desire to forge a different relationship with the Saudi regime from that of its predecessors.

Since 9/11, between one-third and half of the nearly $14 trillion the Pentagon has spent went to for-profit defense contractors.