The American public does not benefit from D.C.’s wars. The working class fights and dies in these wars, and is maimed physically and mentally. The working class also gets stiffed when the money that could be going to public infrastructure, education, and healthcare instead goes to warfare. Furthermore, the working class is hurt from all of the pollution that the war industry and military activity emit.

The ruling class — the richest of the rich — do not make any sacrifice. More than half of military spending goes to corporations, enriching the superrich who own most of the stock. The ruling class also makes sure its politicians in D.C. pursue a foreign policy that enforces a profit-over-people economic order worldwide.

Multinational corporations, most based in the United States, arm the U.S. military. Known as military contractors, these corporations are focused first and foremost on profit. They therefore prioritize the big-ticket items, such as submarines, satellites, aircraft carriers, and multi-year information technology (IT) sales. Profit, not efficacy, is the name of the game.

The few corporations that make large surface-to-air missile interceptors use a slow and costly production process. Interceptor stockpiles diminished rapidly when Washington started attacking Iran militarily in February of this year. Interceptor production has not kept pace with the rate at which the U.S. military uses the interceptors in defending its many Middle East bases against Iranian counterattacks.

The military-industrial-congressional complex is entrenched in D.C. Its components (the Pentagon, military contractors, and U.S. Congress) work together to resist any change to the status quo. As money talks, the Pentagon naturally wants higher military budgets. Military contractors want high military budgets as well, because higher budgets means more money and hence more profit. U.S. Congress, captured by corporate interests, always comes through with these sky-high budgets.

No. Major weapons acquisition programs are regularly over-budget and under-performing. Boondoggles, such as the F-35 jet and the littoral combat ship, are commonplace.

The U.S. has a higher military budget than the next 10 countries combined (all but two of whom are allies). As seen with high-tech U.S. missile interceptors in the current Iran war, higher military budgets do not translate into military victory. The U.S. military hasn’t “won” a war since the Gulf War (1990-1991). The U.S. military can’t even account for all of its weaponry and materiel. It has never passed a financial audit. It failed its eighth consecutive audit in December 2025 and is on pace to fail its ninth this year.

A responsible foreign policy would emphasize diplomacy, bring the troops home and take care of them, and fully fund the departments, such as Education, Interior, Health & Human Services, and Transportation, which can actually help the American public.

The current military budget is roughly $1 trillion. Instead of fueling war and killing people (including U.S. military personnel), that money could go toward employing 7.6 million registered nurses, providing supplementary nutrition for 448 million people, or paying federal student loans of 27 million people. More tradeoffs are available at the National Priorities Project <www.nationalpriorities.org>.

Would you rather pay the corporation Anduril $200 million a year to consolidate military IT, including Anduril’s own Lattice product, into “unified, mission-ready” technology for the Army’s “operational and business needs” or establish 48,780 community gardens across the country? Would you rather pay the corporation Tyto Athene $10 billion for military cyber infrastructure around the U.S. or cover Medicaid for 1,162,790 people?

The expected $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget for the coming fiscal year.

The Eisenhower Media Network is comprised of former military, intelligence and civilian national security officials who offer independent analysis based on decades of real-world experience, study, and scholarship. Its current focus centers around four pillars: No Unconstitutional, Unjust Wars; Cut the $1.5 Trillion Pentagon Budget; Nuclear Weapons & Minimal Effective Deterrence; and Climate Crisis as a National Security Threat.