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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: Playing Tik, Tack, Dough

This week in The Bunker: History has a funny way of repeating itself. Or not so funny, depending on your point of view. And more … 

The Bunker: An Exclamation Point for a Turkey!

This week in The Bunker: The Pentagon gets unduly excited as the F-35 fighter finally enters full-rate production; West Point’s war of words; Defense Department slo-mo; and more. 

The Bunker: Closing in on $1 Trillion

This week in The Bunker: Pentagon rolls out a proposed 2025 budget nearing $1 trillion; senators call for probe alleging “war profiteering”; the U.S. finds itself supporting both sides in Gaza fight; and more. 

The Bunker: Congressional Ineptitude Continues

This week in The Bunker: Lawmakers keep bollixing up Pentagon funding; Marines become the first branch of the U.S. military to pass an audit; congressional watchdog highlights Defense Department sloth in four brief passages; and more. 

The Bunker: Enemies, Exports, Business

This week in The Bunker: look who’s guiding missiles into Ukrainian cities; the complications of building weapons with other countries; war is good for (some of) the economy, and more. 

The Bunker: The Russians Are Coming (Again)!

This week in The Bunker: gullible Americans are again losing sleep over the Red Army; why the Navy can’t get F-35 engines to its carriers; a top Pentagon official bashes contractors for lining their own pockets; and more.

The Bunker: Another costly Army chopper crash

This week in The Bunker: a fourth Army scout helicopter program flies into oblivion; low ammo stockpile highlights Pentagon’s peculiar priorities; U.S. foreign arms sales soar; and more.

The Bunker: What’s a Superpower to Do?

This week in The Bunker: The tough decisions that have to be made when U.S. troops are killed abroad; the F-35’s too hot for its own good; are Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce the 21st Century’s equivalent of Maxwell Smart and Agent 99; and more. 

The Bunker: What the Debate Over Ukraine Aid Highlights

This week in The Bunker: increasing leeriness about helping Ukraine highlights a widening fissure among the U.S. body politic; a pair of planes illustrates the contrasting phases of military procurement; defense contractors grumble that Pentagon negotiators are too stingy; and more. 

The Bunker: The Sky’s the Limit!

This week in The Bunker: new ICBM price tag soars; a call for the Pentagon to defend the moon against Chinese aggression; how the “most disabled” U.S. vets are short-changed; and more. 

The Bunker: Yemen’s Slippery Slope

This week in The Bunker: Congress — yet again — meekly goes along with a president unilaterally wielding the immense power of the U.S. military; the 1,000th F-35 rolls off the assembly line while still in “low rate” production; Boeing’s blunders; and more.

The Bunker: A Military Cost-Benefit Analysis

This week (welcome back, and happy New Year!) in The Bunker: weighing the wisdom of a 20th century military in a 21st century world; SECDEF MIA; re-opening a long-closed base in the (not-so) Pacific; and more. 

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