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The Most Expensive Fighter Jet Ever Built, by the Numbers

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Theodoric Meyer - Mar. 29 (Special Report) - Thanks to the sequester, the Defense Department is now required to cut more than $40 billion this fiscal year out of its $549 billion budget. But one program that's unlikely to take a significant hit is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, despite the fact that it's almost four times more expensive than any other Pentagon weapons program that's in the works. We've compiled some of the most headache-inducing figures, from the program's hefty cost overruns to the billions it's generating in revenue for Lockheed Martin.

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Obama picks Chuck Hagel as next defense secretary, setting up likely confirmation fight

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - Jan. 07 (News) -

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Defense firms say layoff warnings loom

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Politico - By Austin Wright - Sep. 10 (News) - Labor Department moved to stave off the pre-election layoff warnings... said widespread notices would be a violation of the WARN Act. The law, according to the department, explicitly discourages overbroad notices and allows for exemptions in cases of “unforeseen business circumstances.”

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Four Biggest Government Spending Myths Debunked

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Mattea Kramer - Jul. 17 (Opinion) - We're at the edge of the cliff of deficit disaster! National security spending is being, or will soon be, slashed to the bone! Obamacare will sink the ship of state! Each of these claims has grabbed national attention in a big way, sucking up years' worth of precious airtime. That's a serious bummer, since each of them is a spending myth of the first order. Let's pop them, one by one, and move on to the truly urgent business of a nation that is indeed on the edge. Continue Reading ...

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The distraction of missile defense

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700

thebulletin.org - By Pavel Podvig - Jun. 01 (News Analysis) - Judging by the intensity of Russia's constant opposition to US missile defenses in Europe, one might think that the very survival of the nation is in danger. In reality, though, the opposite is true: The battle over missile defense is so fierce because the stakes are so low.

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Barack Obama: use former war budget to boost US economy

Sat, 05 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - May. 05 (News Report) - Barack Obama has declared that his goal of defeating al-Qaida is within reach and that the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan would free up money to help rebuild the US economy. The US president said on Saturday that it was time to focus on domestic concerns, such as helping the middle class who have been squeezed by the economic downturn. Four days after he visited Afghanistan, Obama said that money saved from ending wars should be used to reduce the country's debt and to boost healthcare, education and infrastructure. "The tide of war has turned in Afghanistan," he said in his weekly radio and internet address. "We've broken the Taliban's momentum. We've built strong Afghan security forces. We've devastated al-Qaida's leadership. And one year ago our troops launched the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

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Iron Dome -- the newly beloved missile defense system that nobody wanted

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Times of Israel - By Mitch Ginsburg - Mar. 14 (Opinion) - Were it not for Iron Dome, and with over 300 rockets fired from Gaza between Friday and Tuesday, military officials said, Israel might now be deeply embroiled in a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Alternatively, were it not for Iron Dome, they said, Israel might not have made the decision to blow up Zuhair al-Qaissi in his car in Gaza City on Friday, no matter how great the concern that he was about to orchestrate a major terrorist infiltration from the Sinai.

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Strategic revelation | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

thebulletin.org - By John Issacs - Feb. 23 (Special Report) - The back story is that the Obama administration is following up on the April 2010 Nuclear Posture Review -- a major Pentagon assessment of nuclear strategy, forces, and readiness -- with options for the future size of the US nuclear arsenal. This study has been delayed for many months; thus, it comes as little surprise that this leak would occur in the middle of a hot political campaign.

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Under Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killing

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Greg Miller - Dec. 28 (Special Report) - The Obama administration’s counterterrorism accomplishments are most apparent in what it has been able to dismantle, including CIA prisons and entire tiers of al-Qaeda’s leadership. But what the administration has assembled, hidden from public view, may be equally consequential. In the space of three years, the administration has built an extensive apparatus for using drones to carry out targeted killings of suspected terrorists and stealth surveillance of other adversaries. The apparatus involves dozens of secret facilities, including two operational hubs on the East Coast, virtual Air Force cockpits in the Southwest and clandestine bases in at least six countries on two continents. ...

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Report: Military Blew $1 Trillion on Weapons Since 9/11

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Adam Weinstein - Nov. 02 (Opinion) - A new study suggests that defense hawks are crying crocodile tears over planned cuts to Pentagon spending. Capitol Hill conservatives and Pentagon brass fighting cuts to defense spending have argued that the military is limping off the battlefield

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U.S. Wasting Billions While Tripling No-Bid Contracts After Decade of War in Iraq, Afghanistan

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Sep. 02 (News Report) - As the war in Afghanistan approaches its 10th anniversary, a pair of new reports reveal how the Pentagon has squandered tens of billions of dollars while tripling the amount of no-bid contracts. The bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting concludes that between $31 billion and $60 billion spent on projects in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 10 years has been lost to waste and fraud. In Afghanistan, the commission found the United States is indirectly funding the Taliban as money diverted from U.S.-backed projects is paid out to militants to ensure safety. Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s use of no-bid contracts has tripled since the United States was attacked on 9/11, in spite of promises to reform the controversial practice. A new investigative report from the Center for Public Integrity says no-bid spending has ballooned from $50 billion in 2003 to $140 billion in 2011.

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Panetta Says Iranian Arms in Iraq Are a ‘Concern’

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Elisabeth Bumiller - Jul. 10 (News Report) - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said on Sunday that weapons he said were supplied by Iran had become a “tremendous concern” for the United States in recent weeks in Iraq, where more American troops died in June than in any month over the three previous years.

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U.S. Wars Leave 225,000 Dead, Cost $4.4 Trillion: Study

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Agence France-Presse - Jul. 02 (News Report) - U.S. wars launched since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have left 225,000 dead and cost up to $4.4 trillion, according to a new study by university researchers. The study published by Brown University this week focused on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and counter-terrorism campaigns in Pakistan and Yemen, which came in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

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Boeing pocketed millions by overcharging Army, IG report finds

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

iWatch News - By Ben Wieder - Jun. 30 (News Report) - Boeing Co. overcharged the U.S. Army by about $13 million for Apache and Chinook helicopter parts, according to a Pentagon inspector general report obtained by the Project on Government Oversight.

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Republicans Packed Defense Spending Bill With Earmarks, Says Sen. Claire McCaskill

Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Colin Clark - May. 27 (News Report) - One of the Senate's top campaigners for good government is charging House Republicans with quietly loading their new defense policy bill with earmarks that are currently banned by the GOP's own rules. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has pledged to keep all earmarks out of the Republican version of the Defense Authorization Act.

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Army report: Military has spent $32 billion since ’95 on abandoned weapons programs

Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Marjorie Censer - May. 27 (Special Report) - For almost a decade, the Defense Department saw its budgets boom — but didn’t make the kind of technological strides that seemed possible.

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CIA flew stealth drones into Pakistan to monitor bin Laden house

Wed, 18 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Greg Miller - May. 18 (News Report) - The CIA employed sophisticated new stealth drone aircraft to fly dozens of secret missions deep into Pakistani airspace and monitor the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, current and former U.S. officials said.

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John Ashcroft takes image-rehab job with Blackwater

Wed, 04 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Alex Pareene - May. 04 (Opinion) - The hiring of Ashcroft -- a puritanical straight-and-narrow type -- is obviously meant to signal to government agencies that Blackwater has totally changed since founder and real piece of work Erik Prince departed the company to concentrate on pretending he's been persecuted for anything besides his impossibly irresponsible management.

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The Mosaic Philosophy at Gitmo

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Harper's - By Scott Horton - Apr. 30 (News Report) - Several in the U.S. leadership became aware of this lack of proper vetting very early on and, thus, of the reality that many of the detainees were innocent of any substantial wrongdoing, had little intelligence value, and should be immediately released.

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A Professional Military and the Privatization of Warfare

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Miller-McCune - By Jeff Shear - Apr. 22 (Special Report) - The antics of private military contractors are increasingly known, and they're the ones taking over for departing uniformed American troops in Iraq.

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CIA’s brain drain: Since 9/11, some top officials have moved to private sector

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Julie Tate - Apr. 13 (Special Report) - In the decade since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, private intelligence firms and security consultants have peeled away veterans from the top reaches of the CIA, hiring scores of longtime officers in large part to gain access to the burgeoning world of intelligence contracting.

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U.S. Military Spending Has Almost Doubled Since 2001

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Think Progress - By Judd Legum - Apr. 11 (Research) - A new report released today by SIPRI, a Swedish-based think tank, reveals that U.S. military spending has almost doubled since 2001. The U.S. spent an astounding $698 billion on the military last year, an 81% increase over the last decade.

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The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders And how the Pentagon later turned on them

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Rolling Stone - Mar. 29 (News) - How two American kids became big-time weapons traders — until the Pentagon turned on them

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Documents show Army's disservice to broken soldiers

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - By Carl Prine - Feb. 07 (Investigative Report) - a nine-month probe by the Tribune-Review found America's sick and injured soldiers must struggle to mend inside 38 Warrior Transition units the Army has turned into dumping grounds for criminals, malingerers and dope addicts. Originally designed to treat the wounded from twin wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, after nearly a decade of battle these barracks snag soldiers in red tape. Despite an epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, brain injuries and substance abuse linked to repeated combat deployments, soldiers sometimes spend years desperately seeking psychological care.

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Reagan Celebration Hides Brutal History

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Associated Press - Feb. 06 (News Analysis) - Wilkerson and Parry on Reagan centenary: Many of today's catastrophes can be traced to Reagan's presidency

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