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The Bunker

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. The Bunker is both pro-troop and pro-taxpayer. 

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The Bunker logo, done in military stencil, in front of the Pentagon building

The Bunker: Tarnished Silver Bullets

This week in The Bunker: the Pentagon’s preoccupation with fools-gold-plated warplanes means we end up with costly weapons that can’t fly as often; Navy recruiting woes; a grim invasion anniversary; and more.

The Bunker: An Artificially Intelligent Bunker

This week in The Bunker: a warning that artificial intelligence could lead to nuclear war pushes The Bunker to relinquish its keyboard to a robot (for the most part), to see what impact AI can have on more mundane pursuits; and more.

The Bunker: Balloonacy!

This week in The Bunker: that Chinese balloon poses a bigger threat to U.S. taxpayer wallets than U.S. national security; the Pentagon creates a new outfit to better run itself; and more.

The Bunker: About Those Awfully Slow Tanks

This week in The Bunker: why the U.S. is slow-walking its M1 tanks to Ukraine; artificial intelligence is making killer robots a sure thing; the Army cuts an original planned buy of sophisticated dummies that could save soldiers’ lives; and more.

The Bunker: A Depressing Trifecta

This week in The Bunker: a hat trick of bad news about new weapons, a persistent Pentagon bookkeeping nightmare, a toxic leader who oversaw U.S. military spending, and more.

The Bunker: The Hallowed "Hollow Force"

This week in The Bunker: what’s needed to slay the feared “hollow force”; a source for the groupthink surrounding U.S. nuclear strategy; the still-not-ready-for-prime-time F-35 gets a new radar; and more.

The Bunker: Plane Stupid

This week in The Bunker: Who’s in charge of air traffic control at the Pentagon?; loathsome Russian blamethrowing; a general’s warning; welcome back … and a Happy (real, not fiscal) New Year!; and more.

The Bunker: The Army’s Tiltrotor Reversal

This week in The Bunker: Nearly 40 years after the Army quit the Pentagon’s first-ever tiltrotor program, contending it cost too much and did too little, it has reversed course and launched the second. Holiday break starts now … back January 11!

The Bunker: A Warning, a Weapon, a Windfall

This week in The Bunker: the Pentagon rolls out a new report on the China threat; three days later it rolls out a new bomber dealing with the China threat; Congress stuffs an already lardy Pentagon budget to deal with the China threat; and more.

The Bunker: Fighting Words!

This week in The Bunker: War of the words — how come only a Marine, among all individual members of the U.S. military, rates a capital letter; what should we call all of those in U.S. military uniforms; and more.

The Bunker: Auditing Pentagon Innovation

This week in The Bunker: The Pentagon serves thin gruel when it comes to defense innovation, perpetually preoccupied with spending over thinking; for the fifth year in a row, the military can’t tell us where all that money’s going; and more.

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