{"id":58526,"date":"2020-06-10T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/10\/we-prepared-for-war-but-should-have-spent-our-money-elsewhere\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:20:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:20:02","slug":"we-prepared-for-war-but-should-have-spent-our-money-elsewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/06\/10\/we-prepared-for-war-but-should-have-spent-our-money-elsewhere\/","title":{"rendered":"We prepared for war, but should have spent our money elsewhere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the host of a national security podcast literally named \u201cThings That Go Boom,\u201d I spend a lot of my time thinking about what keeps us safe. And usually these thoughts are pretty focused on big, obvious threats \u2014 things like bombs. But with the world seemingly imploding, a global pandemic spreading, nationwide protests<\/a> against police brutality erupting and world economies tanking, it\u2019s clearer than ever that we\u2019ve been preparing for the wrong crisis. You could say we were preparing for World War III, when we got hammered by World War C<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staying safe means recognizing what threats we\u2019re facing \u2014 the ones we\u2019re expecting and the ones that might catch us off guard. But we didn\u2019t do that. Instead we invested hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons and wars while the coronavirus slipped silently and invisibly across our borders, into our homes and even onto our military aircraft carriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greatest threats of the past decade have come in the form of a deadly virus, climate-related natural disasters, economic meltdowns, and attacks on free and fair elections. So why are expensive weapons systems and massive military installations still a foregone conclusion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America spends over $700 billion<\/a> a year on our national defense. That\u2019s about a sixth of our overall budget and more than health care, education and all the rest of our discretionary spending combined. And the money is solid, meaning that most of the time, it\u2019s not subject to normal swings in the economy. Things are bad? We can\u2019t let the military feel the pain. Things are good? The military has to prepare for the next big threat. Bad or good, it\u2019s always a great time to invest. You can\u2019t put a price tag on security, they say. And they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Watson Institute\u2019s Costs of War Project, America\u2019s war on terror \u2014 which now spans more than 80 countries<\/a> \u2014 has cost taxpayers over $6 trillion<\/a> since 2001, with no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in its latest budget proposal, the Trump administration proposed spending $20 billion more on military programs than on all other federal programs combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, in 2018, the Trump administration cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s budget by 80 percent, forcing it to scale back its efforts to prevent epidemics in 39 of 49 countries, including China. These and other major cuts to global health spending left the U.S. unprepared<\/a> for the crisis we\u2019re facing now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As vital American businesses \u2014 from my son\u2019s preschool to our friends\u2019 farm \u2014 struggle to survive, the defense industry has unsurprisingly had no such problem. In late April, for example, some contractors received a windfall of business when the State Department approved over $2 billion in weapons sales to repressive regimes like India, Morocco and the Philippines, with more supposedly on the way. The defense industry is doing so well in fact that it is showing up on investment lists as an example<\/a> of one of the best places to \u201chedge in hard times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite their already deep financial pockets, Congress decided to give these huge contractors<\/a> billions of dollars in coronavirus relief funds. This comes as a bit of a surprise when you consider that the Pentagon just recently diverted $13.3 billion in unused funds for the construction of the president\u2019s border wall. And the first-ever audit<\/a> of the Department of Defense revealed that it failed to spend almost $28 billion from 2013-2018, all the while asking for more funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, experts believe this money, which is supposed to be used to help keep workers safe and employed, will instead only help make the companies\u2019 executives richer. We\u2019re already seeing this play out. Deemed \u201cessential workers\u201d due to the pending arms sales, workers in these manufacturing plants recently went on strike after they were forced to go to work even as a number of their colleagues tested positive for coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\t