After 20 years of endless war in which trillions were spent and hundreds of thousands died on all sides without the US military achieving anything approaching victory, the Pentagon continues to be funded at staggering levels, while funding to deal with the greatest threats — from the pandemic to climate change to white supremacy — proves woefully inadequate.
Last month’s insurrection at the Capitol revealed the dismal failure of the Capitol Police and the Department of Defence to use their expertise and resources to thwart a clear and present danger to our democracy. As the government reform group Public Citizen tweeted, “If you’re spending $740,000,000,000 annually on ‘defence’ but fascists dressed for the renaissance fair can still storm the Capitol as they please, maybe it’s time to rethink national security?”
Mandy Smithberger is the director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Project on Government Oversight
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