Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Blast from the past…old funding dies hard

This article caught my attention mainly because I hadn’t heard much about the court battles on terminating funding for the A-12 because I thought it was done. But the inability of DOD to submit documentation that might justify that the A-12 was not viable due to classified and secret information and specs made an impression […]

Procurement

Mother Jones points us to a Stimson Center study, titled What We Bought: Defense Procurement From FY01 to FY10 (PDF), (via Reader Supported News). From the report Procurement funding grew from $62.6B in FY01 to as much as $135.8B throughout the decade.3 In constant dollars, base procurement funding in FY10 increased by 41 percent from […]

Eisenhower as a lefty politico

An opinion piece in the NYT points us to new docs on former President Eisenhower: LAST week the National Archives released a trove of drafts and notes that shed new light on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address, in which he warned America about the “military-industrial complex.” More can be found here. On Oct. 31, […]

The Pentagon Labyrinth

by Mike Kimel Cross posted at the Presimetrics blog. I just came upon The Pentagon Labyrinth Its a very readable, very informative collection of essays about national defense in the United States.  The essays are written by ex-defense personnel (some of whom were very influential) and journalists who cover the military, and to top it […]

The wacky world_of American war

From Tom Dispatch a quiz: With President Obama’s announced July 2011 drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan in mind, the Pentagon has already: a. Begun organizing an orderly early 2011 withdrawal of troops from combat outposts and forward operating bases to larger facilities to facilitate the president’s plan. b. Launched a new U.S. base-building binge […]

Misinterpreting History to Sell Eternal Mobilization.

by reader Ilsm Misinterpreting History to Sell Eternal MobilizationWashington Post, July 30, 2010, Pg. 19A Defense Budget Lesson We Never Learn, Max BootMax Boot, Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick seat at Council on Foreign Relations, describes a litany of tragedies rooted in alleged demobilizations including post American Revolution and the War Between the States. Each example is […]

Procurement of big ticket items

Follow up to the US military ‘procurement and research’ increases post: $25 billion for the first new aircraft carrier, $9 billion for per for another one or two each. Aircraft Builders Compete for Air Force Tanker Contract Again 24/7 Wall St.: Maybe the third time will be the charm. Today marks the closing date for […]

$158 billion for services/2007 (rounding down)

GAO reviews a case study of using contractors side by side with government employees at CCE. CCE (Contracting Center of Exellence) has relied on contractor contract specialists since it began hiring them in 2003. In August 2007, contractors—who work side by side and perform the same functions as their government counterparts—comprised 42 percent of CCE’s […]