( Tomdispatch.com) – On August 28th, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks chose the occasion of a three-day conference organized by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), the arms industry’s biggest trade group, to announce the “Replicator Initiative.” Among other things, it would involve producing “swarms of drones” that could hit thousands of targets in […]
The Profiteers of Armageddon: Oppenheimer and the Birth of the Nuclear-Industrial Complex
( Tomdispatch.com) – Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you’re undoubtedly aware that award-winning director Christopher Nolan has released a new film about Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb” for leading the group of scientists who created that deadly weapon as part of America’s World […]
The Ultimate All-American Slush Fund: How a New Budget Loophole could send Pentagon Spending Soaring even Higher
By Julia Gledhill and William D. Hartung ( Tomdispatch.com ) – On June 3rd, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that lifted the government’s debt ceiling and capped some categories of government spending. The big winner was — surprise, surprise! — the Pentagon. Congress spared military-related programs any cuts while freezing all other […]
Congress Has Been Captured by the Arms Industry: And We’re Paying the Price (and What a Price It Is!)
( Tomdispatch.com ) – On March 13th, the Pentagon rolled out its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2024. The results were — or at least should have been — stunning, even by the standards of a department that’s used to getting what it wants when it wants it. The new Pentagon budget would come in […]
Is America’s bottomless Corporate Welfare for Arms Industry actually Making us Less Safe?
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Late last month, President Biden signed a bill that clears the way for $858 billion in Pentagon spending and nuclear weapons work at the Department of Energy in 2023. That’s far more than Washington anted up for military purposes at the height of the Korean or Vietnam wars or even during […]
Corporate Weapons Heaven Is a Hell on Earth: Joe Biden, the National Security State, and Arms Sales
( Tomdispatch.com) – Here’s a seldom commented-upon reality of this century and this moment: the United States remains the number-one arms-exporting nation on the planet. Between 2017 and 2021, it grabbed 39% of the total global weapons market and there’s nothing new about that. It has, in fact, been the top arms dealer in every […]
Fueling the Warfare State: America’s $1.4 Trillion “National Security” Budget Makes Us Ever Less Safe
( Tomdispatch.com ) – This March, when the Biden administration presented a staggering $813 billion proposal for “national defense,” it was hard to imagine a budget that could go significantly higher or be more generous to the denizens of the military-industrial complex. After all, that request represented far more than peak spending in the Korean […]
Arsenal of Autocracy? The Major Weapons Makers Cash in Worldwide, Not Just in Ukraine
By William D. Hartung | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – These are good times to be an arms maker. Not only are tens of billions of dollars in new military spending headed for the coffers of this country’s largest weapons contractors, but they’re being praised as defenders of freedom and democracy, thanks to their role in […]
The New Gold Rush: How Pentagon Contractors Are Cashing in on the Ukraine Crisis
By William D. Hartung and Julia Gledhill | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought immense suffering to the people of that land, while sparking calls for increased military spending in both the United States and Europe. Though that war may prove to be a tragedy for the world, one […]
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