Why military budget watchdogs fail, and how they can start to win
Progressives have to shed politically-charged projects and identify budget issues and personalities with bipartisan appeal.
Winslow T. Wheeler spent 30 years working for Republican and Democratic Senators and the GAO on national security issues, followed by 13 years at the Center for Defense Information in Washington. He has authored two books: The Wastrels of Defense: How Congress Sabotages National Security, and Military Reform: An Uneven History and an Uncertain Future. He is also the editor of two anthologies, The Pentagon Labyrinth: 10 Short Essays to Help You Through It, and America’s Defense Meltdown: Military Reform for President Obama and the New Congress.
Progressives have to shed politically-charged projects and identify budget issues and personalities with bipartisan appeal.
The only one who loses is the taxpayer —because everything is rigged to get more for the next year, and none of it is ever returned.
Defense contractors and program advocates have unusual control over what the public sees, leading to bad oversight, or worse.
A new panel buried in the NDAA will likely be run by arms contractors, blobby think tankers, and pols who could care less about budget reform.