William Hartung
William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy. He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books, 2011). He is the co-editor of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War (Paradigm Press, 2008).
Articles by this author
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Views Monday, April 02, 2018 Weapons For Anyone It’s one of those stories of the century that somehow never gets treated that way. For an astounding 25 of the past 26 years, the United States has been the leading arms dealer on the planet, at some moments in near monopolistic fashion. Its major weapons-producers, including Boeing, Raytheon, and... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, February 27, 2018 How the Pentagon Devours the Budget Imagine for a moment a scheme in which American taxpayers were taken to the cleaners to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars and there was barely a hint of criticism or outrage. Imagine as well that the White House and a majority of the politicians in Washington, no matter the party,... Read more |
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Views Thursday, January 11, 2018 2018 Looks Like an Arms Bonanza As Donald Trump might put it, major weapons contractors like Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin cashed in “ bigly ” in his first year in office. They raked in tens of billions of dollars in Pentagon contracts, while posting sharp stock price increases and healthy profits driven by the... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, November 14, 2017 How to Wield Influence and Sell Weaponry in Washington Until recently, few of us woke up worrying about the threat of nuclear war. Such dangers seemed like Cold War relics, associated with outmoded practices like building fallout shelters and “ duck and cover ” drills. But give Donald Trump credit. When it comes to nukes, he’s gotten our attention. He’... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, October 10, 2017 How the Military-Industrial Complex Preys on the Troops Here’s a question for you: How do you spell boondoggle? The answer (in case you didn’t already know): P-e-n-t-a-g-o-n. Hawks on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. military routinely justify increases in the Defense Department's already munificent budget by arguing that yet more money is needed to “... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, July 25, 2017 The Hidden Costs of “National Security” You wouldn’t know it, based on the endless cries for more money coming from the military , politicians , and the president , but these are the best of times for the Pentagon. Spending on the Department of Defense alone is already well in excess of half a trillion dollars a year and counting... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, June 20, 2017 Trump's Love Affair With the Saudis At this point, it’s no great surprise when Donald Trump walks away from past statements in service to some impulse of the moment. Nowhere, however, has such a shift been more extreme or its potential consequences more dangerous than in his sudden love affair with the Saudi royal family. It could in... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, May 09, 2017 The American Way of War Is a Budget-Breaker When Donald Trump wanted to “do something” about the use of chemical weapons on civilians in Syria, he had the U.S. Navy lob 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield ( cost : $89 million). The strike was symbolic at best, as the Assad regime ran bombing missions from the same airfield the very next... Read more |
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Views Monday, March 06, 2017 Could War With Iran Be on Washington’s Agenda? In the splurge of “news,” media-bashing, and Bannonism that’s been Donald Trump’s domestic version of a shock-and-awe campaign, it’s easy to forget just how much of what the new president and his administration have done so far is simply an intensification of trends long underway. Those who already... Read more |
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Views Friday, February 24, 2017 We Can Fight Trump’s Cuts to Essential Government Programs E ven as the White House descends into further disarray, the Trump/Bannon administration has continued its campaign of political shock and awe, from its stalled Muslim ban to its gutting of environmental protections to its ongoing assault on Obamacare. Now the other shoe is about to drop—a... Read more |