Cutting the Pentagon budget by $1 trillion? It can be done.
But whether our leaders continue to succumb to the power of the arms lobby is an open question.
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.
But whether our leaders continue to succumb to the power of the arms lobby is an open question.
A shift in spending toward urgent priorities like addressing the possibility of future pandemics would be a far better investment in “national security.”
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.