In an analysis published June 29, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a watchdog nonprofit that exposes government waste, criticized Pentagon officials for weapons spending that largely ignores the COVID-19 epidemic, but enriches weapons makers.
“Even if the rest of us remain in danger from the coronavirus, Congress has done a remarkably good job of vaccinating the Department of Defense and the weapons makers that rely on it financially,” wrote Mandy Smithberger, director of the Center for Defense Information at POGO.
Money wasted on needless weaponry is proving a gold mine for defense contractors at taxpayer’s expense, while public health agencies go short of money to deal with the virus, Smithberger wrote.
According to the International Policy Sustainable Defense Task Force, the biggest challenges America faces, including the pandemic, are not military in nature, she wrote. Hundreds of billions of dollars could be cut from U.S. military spending, including unnecessary ballistic missile modernization, and Americans would actually be safer, Smithberger wrote.
The government’s response to the COVID-19 epidemic in funding health agencies has been anemic compared to its continuing runaway spending for weapons systems and the contractors who profit off it, she wrote.
“While Americans are overwhelmed by the pandemic, the Pentagon and its boosters feather their own nests,” she said.
The Pentagon’s budget has swollen by 54% or $628 billion, 90 times greater than this year’s budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is fighting the pandemic, the analysis said.
Smithberger called on Congress to provide oversight and rein in wasteful military spending.
“As Americans await a future COVID-19 vaccine, the military-industrial complex finds itself well vaccinated against this pandemic moment,” she said.
Alerts Sign-up