For this four-part special series, the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, to host an event called A Costly Silence: Why Your Policymakers Should Be Talking About the Trillion-Dollar Pentagon Budget. Partnering with Nebraskans for Peace, with funding from the Prospect Hill Foundation, our public town hall examined how the Pentagon budget got to this point, what the broken budget and spending process means for everyday Americans, and how taxpayers can demand a system that works better without compromising national security.
In this episode, Center Research Analyst Connor Murray discusses why Omaha — home to U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) — was the vital backdrop for this conversation. You’ll also hear remarks from: Former Congressman John Tierney, the Center’s Executive Director, who reflects on the massive trade-offs of defense overspending compared to domestic needs, what weapons buildups truly cost taxpayers and what actually motivates members of Congress to act; and Alex Bell, President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who revisits President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning about the “military-industrial complex” and breaks down three structural reasons Washington leaders fail to rein in Pentagon spending.
