The Eisenhower Media Network (EMN) today announced the appointment of William Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a nationally recognized author and expert on Pentagon contracting and the arms industry, as Senior Policy Advisor and Ted Strickland, former United States Congressman and one-term Governor of Ohio, as Senior Political Advisor. 

Their combined decades of public service, policy expertise, and independent analysis strengthen EMN’s mission to challenge the outsized influence of the military-industrial-media complex and advance diplomacy-first approaches to U.S. foreign policy.

“William Hartung and Ted Strickland bring extraordinary integrity, expertise, and independence to Eisenhower Media Network,” said Major General Dennis Laich, U.S. Army (Ret.), Executive Director of Eisenhower Media Network. “At a time when too much foreign policy debate is shaped by defense contractors and entrenched Washington interests, their voices will help strengthen informed public discussion centered on diplomacy, accountability, and peace.”

“I’m honored to join Eisenhower Media Network at a moment when independent analysis of Pentagon spending and militarized foreign policy is more important than ever,” said William Hartung, co-author of The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home. “The American people deserve honest debate about the true costs of endless war and unchecked military spending. Not only are our current strategy and weapons buying practices enormously expensive, they are also making America and the world far less safe. We need to take back this country from the advocates of unbridled militarism and bring back a balanced foreign policy that seeks to prevent conflicts rather than provoking them, using smart diplomacy, carefully focused economic assistance, and people-to-people cultural engagement across borders.”

“Our foreign policy should reflect the values and priorities of ordinary Americans, not the interests of powerful lobbying networks or defense contractors,” said Strickland. “I’m proud to support EMN’s mission to elevate independent voices committed to diplomacy and democratic accountability.”

The appointments reflect EMN’s continued growth as a leading source of independent expert perspectives on national security, military spending, and American foreign policy — free from financial ties to defense contractors or weapons industry-funded think tanks.

William Hartung is one of the nation’s foremost independent analysts of U.S. defense spending and the global arms trade. A Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, he has spent decades investigating Pentagon contracting, weapons industry lobbying, and the revolving door between government and defense corporations. He is the author of the acclaimed book Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex and has testified before Congress on defense spending and arms sales.

Ted Strickland served one term as Governor of Ohio and six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Ohio’s 6th Congressional District. Throughout his career, he has advocated for working Americans and policies that prioritize public needs over powerful special interests. Following his public service, he held academic roles at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and Chan School of Public Health.