Author Archive

William D. Hartung

Senior Research Fellow, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

William D. Hartung is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military Industrial Complex. Before joining the Quincy Institute, he was the director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy and a co-director of the Center's Sustainable Defense Task Force.
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Beware of Pentagon techno-enthusiasm

A massive new drone effort, while laudable in its quest for simpler weapons, does not come without strings attached.

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Has Congress Learned the Lessons of the Iraq War?

Besides repealing the AUMFs, lawmakers ought to create new tools to curb U.S. military interventions.

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Let’s Put the Pentagon’s China Report in Context

What do the relative sizes of the U.S. and Chinese nuclear arsenals really suggest?

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Don’t Overinflate the Pentagon Budget

There are plenty of perennial problems draining the military’s coffers that need attention.

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Who’s Afraid of an ICBM Review?

It’s worth spending five figures to assess whether to move ahead with a program that could cost more than a quarter-trillion dollars.

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Milley’s Hypersonic Hyperbole May Have Been His ‘Missile Gap’ Moment

The United States must avoid another arms race based on untested or distinctly false premises.

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The New ICBM Is a Legacy System, And Should Be Cancelled

Antiquated strategic thinking must not be allowed to drain funding that could be put toward more pressing threats.

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A $13 Billion Contract for ICBMs: What’s the Rush?

The deal needs closer scrutiny — as does the purported need for new long-range ballistic missiles at all.

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Congress Needs a Veto, Not a Notification, on Arms Sales

The Trump administration’s efforts to evade oversight show why more is needed.

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Time to Rethink Security Aid to Egypt

More than $40 billion over three decades has bought only dubious benefits to U.S. security.

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Overspending on the Pentagon Won’t Make Us Safer

We spend far more on the military than the countries we most fear, while shorting the things that would actually help us compete.

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America’s Military Is Misdirected, Not Underfunded

U.S. strategy should be more focused on preventing conflict with nuclear-armed China than on spinning out elaborate war-fighting scenarios.

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Does America Need a Space Force?

A new service branch would put more bureaucracy between critical capabilities and the troops who need them.

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Who Needs ICBMs?

Spend the money on the other two legs of the nuclear triad, and improve global stability and U.S. security.

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Would a $700 Billion Budget Really Sink the Pentagon?

Resistance is already forming to a proposed decrease in 2020 spending. It’s important to understand just what that decrease means.

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NATO Already Vastly Outspends Russia. Its Problems Are Not About Money.

The alliance’s security issues can’t be fixed by a traditional military buildup.

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Thornberry’s Pentagon-Reform Plan to Nowhere

It's pitched as a way to cut waste — but would make the misallocation of our tax dollars more likely.

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Arms Sales Decisions Shouldn’t Be About Jobs

Basic foreign policy principles should drive potential weapons exports, not pork-barrel politics.