Why the Pentagon budget never goes down
A new cold war atmosphere will allow the Pentagon to hoard resources that would otherwise go to our greater public health and safety needs.
Mandy Smithberger rejoined POGO as the director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information in December 2014. Previously she was a national security policy adviser to U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) worked on passing key provisions of the Military Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act into law, which expands protections by increasing the level of Inspector General review for complaints, requiring timely action on findings of reprisal, and increasing the time whistleblowers have to report reprisals. Previously an investigator with POGO, she was part of a team that received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sunshine Award for contributions in the area of open government. Ms. Smithberger received her B.A. in government from Smith College and her Masters in Strategic Studies and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She also served as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency and U.S. Central Command.
A new cold war atmosphere will allow the Pentagon to hoard resources that would otherwise go to our greater public health and safety needs.
Make no mistake: the addiction to Pentagon spending is a bipartisan problem in Washington.
The immediate crises of the American republic should be clear enough right now: responding to the pandemic and restoring our civilian democracy.
The best hope for reducing Pentagon spending is the collision between that department’s never-ending, ever-rising desires and the overriding economic and political realities of this difficult moment.