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The Military-Industrial Circus is a regular column by Pulitzer-prize winning National Security Analyst Mark Thompson for CDI at POGO. More

Waste

Introducing: The Bunker

Military Intelligence for the Rest of Us, in Your Inbox

By Mandy Smithberger | Filed under analysis | January 29, 2020

(Illustration: CJ Ostrosky / POGO)
If you want a cheat sheet for what you need to know about the Department of Defense, how we’re waging our wars, and how the Pentagon spends our taxpayer dollars, sign up for The Bunker.

After nearly 20 years of winless wars following 9/11, and a Pentagon budget that is well above the Cold War average, U.S. national security spending has never been a more target-rich environment. That is why the Project On Government Oversight’s Center for Defense Information has launched The Bunker, a precision-guided e-newsletter targeting your inbox most every week. You can sign up to receive it here.

So much of today’s military debate has boiled down to spend-more-to-make-us-safer vs. spend-less-and-invite-attack, when reality, as it tends to be, is much more nuanced. In fact, we would likely be safer if we spent significantly less. The roughly $20 trillion we’ve spent on national security since 9/11 might be worth it if Afghanistan and Iraq were now stable countries allergic to terrorists, if weapon systems were delivered on time and on budget, or if the U.S.’s toxic alliance with Saudi Arabia didn’t risk expanding endless wars in the Middle East.

Written by POGO national security analyst Mark Thompson, The Bunker is both pro-troop and pro-taxpayer; skeptical but never cynical. While Thompson didn’t cover the War of 1812, he has spent more than 40 years covering the Cold War, the promising decade that followed, and the frustrating wars in the Middle East. The Bunker takes aim at a flabby and fusty national security establishment ill-suited for the 21st century. POGO invites you to enlist so you can get The Bunker guided your way each week.

Sign up to receive The Bunker!

Military intelligence for the rest of us, from POGO's Mark Thompson. Sent every Wednesday morning.

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From exposing fraud in the use of COVID-19 relief funds to holding our elected officials accountable for getting resources to those who need them most, POGO fights day in and day out for a more effective government that better serves the people it’s supposed to serve—you. But we can only continue to do this with your help.

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Center for Defense Information

The Center for Defense Information at POGO aims to secure far more effective and ethical military forces at significantly lower cost.

Author

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    Mandy Smithberger

    Mandy Smithberger is the Director of the Center for Defense Information at POGO.

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