Project On Government Oversight

We should be able to agree that it’s time to reshape our forces for 21st-century priorities. In so doing, the associated savings would strengthen America’s economic competitiveness and reduce our federal deficit.

But the big Pentagon contractors have an overwhelming self-interest in keeping Pentagon spending artificially high. They’re pulling out all the stops to protect their profits — launching advertising campaigns, sending their congressional proxies on speaking tours and indulging in fear-mongering rhetoric — all designed to scare the public into thinking that any reductions in Pentagon spending whatsoever would be catastrophic.

More than anything, they manipulatively claim that any reshaping of our military would mean job losses — an argument primarily aimed at making members of Congress who are running for reelection afraid to make responsible decisions.