When former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation about the dangers of the ‘military-industrial complex’ in his farewell address on Jan. 17, 1961, he knew what he was talking about.
In that famous speech, Eisenhower challenged the American people to limit the undue influence of the military on our democratic society:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
President Eisenhower was certainly not some wacky peacenik or conspiracy theorist. He was the ultimate military insider, the only four-star general to be elected president and the former commander of all Allied forces in World War II.
His dire warning to the American people was both profound and prophetic. Read his words again. He chose them very carefully, and there is much he left unsaid. Still, not even President Eisenhower could have envisioned the Orwellian, permanent war state we find ourselves living in today.
The U.S. defense budget is now equal to military spending in all other countries of the world combined. In 2010, the United States spent at least $700 billion on defense and security. Adjusting for inflation, that’s more than America has spent on defense since World War II. Military and security expenditures have soared by 120 percent since 2001. The total budget for the U.S. military empire is expected to reach a trillion dollars this year.
Although it is difficult to determine the exact dollar amount, the University of New Mexico receives many millions of dollars in funding each year for Research and Development from all branches of the military-industrial complex. UNM does a huge amount of military research on campus, according to various sources, but apparently none of it’s classified. About 50 UNM employees have active clearance to conduct classified research off campus. However, at the request of the UNM Board of Regents, the next UNM president will also be required to have a security clearance before he or she can take the job.
It’s a little-known fact that UNM has its very own nuclear reactor, hidden away somewhere in the bowels of the Engineering Department. Sure, it’s a tiny reactor, and barring any major disasters, we have no reason to be too concerned — but we all know that disasters can and do happen. Only time will tell.
In 2008, UNM President Schmidly signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with Sandia National Laboratories for cooperation in areas including computing infrastructure, homeland defense and national security. Sandia Labs is heavily involved in the Military Industrial Complex. So is UNM, but we are only a small piece of the spending on a national level.
The problem with determining the actual size of the U.S. defense budget is that much of it is hidden. About 8 percent of the Defense Department’s total spending is now classified. At least $60 billion is allocated in what is referred to as the ‘black budget’ — for operations and technology so secret not even Congress or the president are privy to them.
In an attempt to disguise the true size of the American military empire, the government has long concealed major military-related expenditures in departments other than defense.
For example, the current defense budget does not include the $25 billion for developing and maintaining nuclear weapons. That money instead goes to the Department of Energy. In the State Department budget, $25.3 billion is spent on foreign military aid (mostly to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan). Another $1.3 billion outside of the official DOD budget is needed for recruitment and reenlistment incentives for the severely overstretched United States military. The Department of Veterans A currently gets at least $75.7 billion, also not included in the DOD budget. Another $46.4 billion goes to Homeland Security.
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Also missing from this calculation is the $2 billion given to the Department of Justice for the paramilitary activities of the FBI; $38.5 billion to the Treasury Department for the Military Retirement Fund; $7.6 billion for the military-related activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and well over $200 billion in interest payments alone for past debt-financed defense outlays.
While other countries around the world have reduced military spending significantly over the last decade, we have increased it exponentially. The defense industry lives by the old maxim ‘use it or lose it,’ and somehow our military always finds a way to use it. We’re creating enemies faster than we can kill them. It’s good for business.
America currently garrisons the planet with more than 850 military bases around the world in more than 40 countries and U.S. territories. We deploy more than 190,000 troops across the globe. In Japan alone, we still have around 100,000 people connected to U.S. military forces living and working there, including members of the armed services, dependent family members and about 4,000 civilian employees.
The Pentagon also maintains dependent family housing complexes and schools around the world, along with resort hotels, private ski areas and golf courses. The U.S. military claimed to own a total of 172 golf courses in a 2007 audit report.
These huge concentrations of American military power outside the U.S. are not necessary for our national defense. If anything, they’re a major contributor to our numerous conflicts with other countries.
They are also outrageously expensive. The U.S. spends around $250 billion every year just to maintain its global military presence. The reason for this military presence is not to bring freedom and democracy to the world. The sole purpose is global hegemony and dominance over as many nations as possible.
We then demand these nations pay us exorbitant amounts of money for the privilege of letting us occupy their country, and we force them to sign “Status of Forces” agreements, which basically exempt the military (as well as private contractors) from any laws. Not just the laws of the land — any laws whatsoever.
The U.S. is also the world’s biggest weapons exporter, garnishing around 70 percent of the global arms trade. It’s ironic that our government claims to be so concerned about how dangerous the world is when America sells billions of dollars in high-tech weaponry to any two-bit dictator willing to play ball with us. The world is awash with American-made arms. To a large degree, U.S. defense contractors are directly responsible for making the world a more dangerous place. Weapons production is virtually the only sector of the U.S. economy that’s healthy.
We should have heeded President Eisenhower’s warning a long time ago. It’s far too late to do anything about it now. The military-industrial complex is bankrupting our country and diverting scarce resources from the desperately needed rebuilding of American infrastructure and other crucial spending needs into utterly pointless warmongering. We need to close all of our overseas bases and bring our troops home immediately.
