Research and Policy Assistant Sarah Tully published this op-ed in The Hill on the $500 million program that resulted in only a few trained Syrian soldiers.
1 Year Later, U.K.’s Nuclear Deterrent Base Remains in Scotland and Awaits Modernization
Last Friday marked the one-year anniversary of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. The United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent, four nuclear-armed Trident submarines based at Faslane, Scotland, was a hot topic a year ago. The Scottish National Party vowed to scrap the subs if Scotland broke away. But after 55.3% of voters decided to stay with […]
LA Times Quotes Phil Coyle on Air Defense System “JLENS”
How a $2.7 billion air-defense system became a ‘zombie’ program Unknown to most Americans, the Pentagon has spent $2.7 billion developing a system of giant radar-equipped blimps to provide an early warning if the country were ever attacked with cruise missiles, drones or other low-flying weapons. After nearly two decades of disappointment and delay, the […]
The Pentagon’s Quantity Over Quality Problem
The United States spent just about $610 billion on defense last year. That’s more than the next seven countries combined.
But it’s not new news that the U.S. spends more than any other country on defense. What is becoming more apparent, as we come to the end of the 2015 fiscal year, is the opaque and often inconsistent method by which Congress splices together the Pentagon budget.
$700 Billion on Nukes? No Thank You
The United States is preparing to spend almost $704 billion over the next several decades on its nuclear arsenal. This astronomically high cost to modernize the US nuclear force comes despite the shifting nature of war and an ever growing budgetary problem. In light of this, can the United States afford such an expensive overhaul?