Former Secretary of Defense: "Defense Industry Consolidation Has Turned Out Badly"

EDITORS NOTE: As our government faces crucial decisions during the current budgeting cycle, the below article a decade ago by Former Secretary of Defense, William J. Perry comes to mind regarding a key government contractor strategic policy error during his administration that has led to the huge financial impact of today's Military Industrial Complex.

"NATIONAL DEFENSE MAGAZINE" By Sandra I. Erwin

"The architect of the post-Cold War consolidation of the defense industry believes that, in hindsight, the Pentagon paid a huge price for allowing top weapons manufacturers to merge into a handful of huge companies."

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"Dozens of prime contractors merged or were absorbed into mega-corporations.
The trend toward fewer and larger prime contractors has the potential to affect innovation, limit the supply base, pose entry barriers to small, medium and large businesses, and ultimately reduce competition — resulting in higher prices to be paid by the American taxpayer.

 William J. Perry - Image:  Wikipedia 

William J. Perry, secretary of defense during the Clinton administration, gained legendary status in the defense industry for having hosted the so-called “last supper” in the fall of 1993 — when he was deputy defense secretary. That evening, Perry assembled top industry CEOs and alerted them that military spending was about to plummet and the Pentagon would no longer be able to support such a large industry.

Perry’s warning set off an unprecedented wave of mergers and acquisitions in the defense industry.

The end result was an “unnecessary, undesirable consolidation of the defense industry,” Perry said Dec. 3 during a breakfast meeting with reporters in Washington, D.C.

Perry is in town promoting his book, “My Journey at the Nuclear Brink,” which tells the story of his coming of age in the nuclear era and how his thinking has changed about the threats.

In his retrospection about the last supper, Perry recalled that the intent clearly was to help the Pentagon reduce the cost of weapons by compelling the industry to become leaner. But the opposite effect ensued, he said, as the industry became less competitive and continued to charge high overhead rates.

“The response we were seeking was a reduction in overhead,” Perry said. “What we got was the consolidation of the defense industry — few large companies, and less effective competition. … We got some of the things we asked for but also some things we didn’t ask for,” he added. “We would have been better off with more, smaller firms than with a few large ones.”

Perry pointed out that the phrase “last supper” to describe his meeting with with executives was coined by then CEO of Martin Marietta Norm Augustine, who stood next to him at the gathering. “Augustine turned to the man on his right, and the one on his left and said, ‘One of us is not going to be here next year.’” Sure enough, within a year, Martin Marietta had merged with Lockheed to create the world’s largest defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

The Pentagon should be careful about allowing further consolidation, Perry said. “We are still going to face declining defense budgets for acquisition, but the way to respond, I think, is not by allowing defense companies to charge more overhead.” Perry suggests the Pentagon should put more pressure on companies to operate more efficiently. “We would hope we are not going to encourage more industry consolidation, because that would be moving in the wrong direction. We should learn that lesson from the 1990s.”

The Pentagon should be “more explicit in the kind of guidance we give to companies,” he said. Contractors should shrink overhead but that should not come at the expense of competition, Perry said.

Perry’s observations come at a time of growing angst at the Defense Department about industry mergers. Most recently, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall criticized Lockheed Martin's acquisition of helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. Kendall lamented the lack of legal means available to the Pentagon to prevent such deals. “The Department of Defense is concerned about the continuing march toward greater consolidation in the defense industry," he said."

Former SecDef Perry: Defense Industry Consolidation Has Turned Out Badly

Why Employment Is Only Half The Battle For America’s Veterans

"THE HILL" By Rachel Scully  

"There is no “one size fits all” regarding career transitions for veterans. While changing career paths is difficult in any case, veterans face unique challenges."

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"The veteran unemployment rate is below that of non-veterans, but obtaining a job is only half the battle. After years spent training for battle or deployed into combat zones, most former service members still struggle to find satisfaction in a civilian work environment. 

“When you join the military, you’re going to for a very specific reason. And when you’re there, whether it’s four years or for 34 years, you’ve got your mission, team, camaraderie — you have a very clear purpose in what you’re doing,” Waco Hoover, a Marine Corps veteran and chair of the “Be the One” program at the American Legion, told The Hill.  

“When you transition out, all those things are not readily available, and it’s not there.” 

The U.S. is seeing some of the lowest ever unemployment rates for veterans, with the Department of Labor reporting a veteran unemployment rate of only 3 percent as of February, compared to 3.6 percent for non-veterans.  

Yet job satisfaction among veterans is far lower than the general population. A 2021 poll from Hill and Ponton, a veterans’ disability law firm, found that veterans were more than five times more likely to report having no satisfaction at their current job than non-veterans. 

One of the symptoms of this trend is high turnover rates among veteran hires, “and the reason for that is purpose,” Hoover said.  

A CareerBuilder survey conducted last year found that 22 percent of veterans report feeling “underemployed.”  

“The one thing that I think is sometimes frustrating first for military members who are transitioning is you can be a very junior person in the military — first, second, third year — and you have tremendous responsibilities,” said Jeffrey Wenger, Senior Economist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research institution. 

“And you get out of the military and someone wants you to stock shelves. And so you, you’re like, ‘I know I can do better than this.’”

Another driver of veterans’ dissatisfaction appears to be career progression. More than 1 in 4 veterans believed it was not at all likely for them to advance at their current jobs, according to the survey from Hill and Ponton.

“In the civilian sector, it takes many years to work your way up through the ranks,” Wenger said.  

But both the government and nonprofits are focusing more of their work on not only helping veterans get jobs, but helping connect them find fulfilling careers.  

Wenger pointed to the sustained efforts to raise public awareness of their skills, experiences and the programs provided to veterans after they separated — at the federal and state level. 

“I think we’ve done a better job of helping them transition into the civilian labor market,” Wenger said. “We now provide programs at the end of their service period that give them training on how to talk about the skills that they developed.”

The Labor Department provides programs aimed at helping veterans transition to, train for and advance in a civilian career, such as the Transition Assistance Program (TAP). Different programs are set up to provide extra training to veterans before separation, creating more marketable candidates.

However, whether those programs are working remains an open question.

“I would say that one of the things that’s been pretty apparent across the board with transition is just the sheer lack of actual valuable experiences that’s coming out of the transition, TAP programs,” said Nicole Tardif, public relations manager at the American Legion.

“It’s considered kind of a box check, as is the way that the program is set up, where you’re not really learning or being prepared for the civilian world, you’re really just checking the box to make sure you took the classes you were supposed to right before you get out,” Tardif added.  

“There’s not a lot of forethought once you actually move into the civilian world.” 

The Labor Department told The Hill it is addressing those concerns. The Employment Navigator and Partnership Program is a new effort to provide “one-on-one career assistance to interested transitioning service members, and their spouses, at select military installations worldwide,” according to the Labor Department.  

Hoover says there is no “one size fits all” regarding career transitions for veterans. While changing career paths is difficult in any case, veterans face unique challenges.

“You are with a group of human beings that are your team and your family in so many respects. And depending on how long you spend there, what your job was, the connections can be incredibly deep,” Hoover said of life in the military.

“You get out, and that same dynamic doesn’t exist,” he added.

Hoover noted the challenges and opportunities facing a service member departing in their 20s will differ significantly from those in their 30s or 40s.  

“We’ve got to make sure that those programs are oriented for those individuals,” he said. 

And service members should start preparing for their post-military careers while they are still active.

“Beginning with the end in mind, whether that’s four years, 20 years, whatever it is, being cognizant of that along the way … will help them process and have much more perspective for what they want to do,” he said.

“It’s not just giving them information, it’s giving them the tools to be introspective and understand, ‘What do I want to do post-service?’” 

Wenger encouraged veterans to manage expectations and explore their career preferences, taking advantage of the tight labor market to find a good fit.

“[As a veteran], I’m not having to take the first job offer that comes my way. I can be a little bit more selective about the kinds of things I’d like to do,” Wenger said. “And we can, you know, force employers to give you more responsibilities or at least match better to your preferences.”

Why Employment Is Only Half The Battle For America’s Veterans 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Scully - I am a Senior Audience Engagement Producer at The Hill, specializing in visual storytelling. In addition to writing, I create various graphic and video aids for a wide range of stories to provide a seamless reading experience for our audience.Originally hailing from Erie, Pennsylvania, my journey into journalism began with a passion for uncovering facts. In 2021, I earned my Bachelor’s in Political Science and Communication, with a minor in Spanish and Hispanic Studies, from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. I began writing at my s newspaper – The Carroll News— igniting a passion that led me to pursue opportunities in journalism.Before joining The Hill full-time in July 2021, I interned as a reporter here and gained experience as an editorial intern at Cleveland Magazine. 

Every Single F-35 Delivered To The US Military Last Year Was Late

 

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“TASK AND PURPOSE” By Matt White

“On average, new F-35s were delivered 238 days late in 2024. A government watchdog found that the Lockheed Martin continues to collect “hundreds of millions” in fees despite sagging delivery times. Current acquisition costs are $89.5 Billion more than 2012 Baseline Estimate.”

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“Every F-35 delivered to the U.S. military last year by Lockheed Martin was behind schedule by an average of seven months, a government watchdog found, but contractors kept millions in “incentive fees” designed to speed up the delivery.

To catch up, the aerospace giant now says it will “reduce the scope” of capabilities in new planes. 

The latest round of jets will now “cost $6 billion more and completion is at least 5 years later than original estimates,” a report by the Government Accountability Office found. “In 2024, Lockheed delivered 110 aircraft. All were late by an average of 238 days, up from 61 days in 2023.”

In a statement to Task & Purpose on the GAO report, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said, “The F-35 is combat-proven, offers the most advanced capability and technology, and is the most affordable option to ensure America and its allies remain ahead of emerging threats.”

The F-35 has been slated to be the U.S. military’s primary modern strike and air superiority fighter since it was originally funded in 2001, and is — uniquely among strike aircraft — flown by all three fixed-wing air components. The Air Force took delivery in April of its 500th F-35, the Marines own about 250, and the Navy has over 100. Those totals are about one-third of the roughly 2,470 fighters the Pentagon plans to buy and fly for 77 years, according to the GAO.

But the program has been beset by cost overruns and delayed deliveries since its inception. The total cost of the full F-35 fleet was expected to be $233 billion when originally funded in 2001. By December 2023, that number had more than doubled to $485 billion.

The latest round of F-35s delivered in the last seven years and currently on order are known as Block 4 of the program. Block 4 jets, the GAO said, were meant to come equipped with “new weapons, radar enhancements, and technology to avoid aircraft collisions” and with new features that “address new threats that have emerged since DOD established the aircraft’s original requirements in 2000.”

But those enhancements, the GAO said, will now be scaled back.

“The program plans to reduce the scope of Block 4 to deliver capabilities to the warfighter at a more predictable pace than in the past,” the GAO said.

The specific list of Block 4 enhancements that will be scaled back will be finalized this fall, the GAO said. F-35 officials told the GAO that they will delay “some capabilities—including those that require an upgraded engine to function—to future modernization efforts. Program officials stated that they will also remove others that no longer meet warfighter needs.”

In its statement to Task & Purpose, Lockheed Martin said it “will deliver 170-190 F-35s this year and continue fielding Block 4 capabilities to ensure the F-35 maintains its unmatched dominance in the skies.” 

A screenshot from the GAO report showing delays in 2024 compared to previous years. Screenshot via Government Accountability Office.

Dan Grazier, a senior fellow and program director at the Stimson Center, has tracked the F-35 program for over a decade at government watchdogs. The admission that some Block 4 technology will be reduced “seems kind of innocuous, but is absolutely mind-blogging,” he said.

“[They] don’t go into what capabilities they’re shaving off the top, but I promise you, the capabilities that they aren’t going to deliver for the F-35 were the capabilities for which they sold the program in the very first place,” Grazier said. “The really high-end capabilities [are] what we’re really paying for when we’re paying this massive premium.”

Millions in fees for late deliveries

The GAO report also said Lockheed has collected “hundreds of millions of dollars” intended to reward quicker production for planes delivered late.

“The F-35 program’s use of incentive fees has largely been ineffective at holding the contractors accountable to delivering engines and aircraft on time,” the report found. “The F-35 program office compensated Lockheed Martin with hundreds of millions of dollars of performance incentive fees while the percentage of aircraft delivered late and the average days late grew.”

Through 2022, most F-35s were delivered by Lockheed Martin on time or with delays that averaged less than a month. But in 2023, 89 of 98 planes were late and in 2024, all 110 were late by an average delay of 238 days.

But as deliveries fell behind, the GAO found, F-35 officials adjusted the terms of the fees.

“Where the program originally tied incentives to on-time delivery, the program gave the contractor a second chance to earn fees by redirecting those incentives to other aspects of the program when it was clear that Lockheed Martin would not deliver any aircraft on time,” the GAO found.

Engine maker Pratt & Whitney also collected “tens of millions” in incentive fees despite late deliveries of the engines.

“This incentive structure and late delivery penalty was not effective at improving on-time deliveries,” the GAO said. “Unless the F-35 program reevaluates its use of incentive fees and better aligns them to achieving desired production schedule outcomes, it will be at greater risk of continuing to reward contractors for delivering engines and aircraft late.”

Every single F-35 delivered to the US military last year was late

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Matt Whit is a senior editor at Task & Purpose. He was a pararescueman in the Air Force and the Alaska Air National Guard for eight years and has more than a decade of experience in daily and magazine journalism. He also teaches news writing at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media where he is frequently referred to as a “very tough grader” on Rate My Professor. You can reach Matt at matthew.white@taskandpurpose.com

I Asked ChatGPT ITS OPINION ON AI MODELS LIKE ITSELF.

The answer, was stated objectively that it considers Large Language Models (LLM's) effective tools, but not capable of human intellect. (Click Image To Enlarge)

 

Military Veteran Satire Writers Propose “The Department of Warfare” As A Business

 

By Tony and Friends On Rose Colored Glasses 

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 We recommend, due to the age of this 18 year old piece, that you click on the image twice to enlarge. Let Tony, a winner of the "Thinking Blogger Award", know what you think about "How war can be made FINANCIALLY profitable for the taxpayer.

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There is a prevalence of warfare in the current era. The U.S. tax payer finances military equipment/technology for our country and many others. The tax payer also donates soldiers to go in harms-way.   Recently our government has postulated an equity investment in Defense companies. Just how would that work?

Tony and his friends revisited our archives from 2007 on this subject. 

With the above in mind we hereby propose , a discussion with your congressional representative a proposal to make war financially profitable for the taxpayer.

 

The Value of Minimalism

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The less you own, the less you have to take care of.

The less you own, the less you have to replace.

The less you own, the less money you need to earn.

The less you own, the more time you have for other things (and people).

The less you own, the less things you need to protect.

It’s not always easy to want less, but we are capable of doing it. It starts with appreciating what we already have.

While we’re thinking about what we don’t have, we’re forgetting about what we do have. We have more than we usually realize. And we don’t need many of the things we think we need.

It’s part of human psychology to gain something and shortly thereafter start thinking about what else we can get. It’s also our nature to vehemently protect what we have (even blessings that come our way unexpectedly, and unearned). The way to combat this is to regularly be thankful for what you have.

Minimalism is not about depriving yourself of comfort. It’s not about having a poverty mindset. It’s about removing distractions from your life. Having fewer wants can greatly uncomplicate your life.

It doesn’t mean we can’t be wealthy (if we have everything we need, we are wealthy). It’s about not pursuing wealth as a way of fulfilling yourself spiritually. It’s about not allowing what you own to own you. It’s about not allowing your possessions to blind you from the things that are most important in life.

We all want to be comfortable and not have to worry about money. There’s nothing wrong with that. I wish we could all have that. Maybe one day everyone will. But don’t think that the more you have, the happier you’ll be. This is true only to an extent.

Part of having more, is wanting less. Being content with less, is itself an increase.

“Personal Growth

Examining The Largest Military Industrial Complex In History

 

"Odyssey of Armaments ” By Ken Larson

“I hope this FREE account of my 36-years in warfare and weapons programs is useful to those concerned about the posture of the United States in the world today. I have learned that the only thing wars decide is how many have died, who is left and who must pay the bills. Academia EDU - Odyssey Of Armaments

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"I am a two tour Vietnam combat veteran and a retired aerospace and defense contracts manager. Vietnam was not a declared war. It was an "Intervention", developed by the U.S. Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and the "Best and the Brightest" in the Pentagon. It became the defacto model for military actions, not only by the U.S. but also other major world powers. Intervention has a long history.

A similar intervention occurred in Iraq, driven by the same MIC forces.

Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

The Vietnam "Intervention" legacy continued after 911 in Afganistan, with mammoth costs in money, treasure and lives; then on to the Middle East and to Ukraine and now to the Gaza support program, while making billions for defense industries and delivering death and destruction to civilians. What must be learned and what price are we willing to pay to learn it?

Our near term future as a country involves weighty decisions regarding our fiscal and national security.  There will be trade offs during the next federal government incremental funding authorization this Fall. 

We are approaching a National Debt of $38 Trillion with a downgraded fiscal credit rating while carrying the financial burden of ongoing support for NATO and the Ukraine war, the Middle East Gaza conflict, as well as domestic program needs.  

A look over our shoulder at two driving factors of our recent warfare is useful as we consider history when viewing our future while making prudent decisions on the principal contributors to our national debt and security. 

I was in Vietnam for two tours as a combatant; working in US Army Base Development. I observed  Philco Ford CAGV, Pacific Architects and Engineers, Leo Daley and other huge corporations working throughout the country supplying American occupation and making billions.

"David Halberstam's book offers a great deal of detail on how the decisions were made in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations that led to the war, focusing on a period from 1960 to 1965 but also covering earlier and later years up to the publication year of the book. Many influential factors are examined in the book:

The Best And The Brightest

THE PAST

A quote many years ago from Major-General Smedley D. Butler: Common Sense (November 1935)

" I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service as a member of our country's most agile military force---the Marine Corps. I have served in all commissioned ranks from a second lieutenant to major-general. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers, In short I was a racketeer for capitalism

Thus, I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place to live for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in…. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking   house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican   Republic for American Sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras "right" for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded honors, medals, promotion. Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was operate his racket in three city districts. We Marines operated on three continents. War Is A Racket"

THE VIETNAM WAR - THE COSTLIEST TO DATE

View and Search The Vietnam Conflict "Wall of Faces" The Wall of Faces

It's been 5 decades since the U.S. ended its involvement in the Vietnam War, and yet payments for the conflict are still rising.

Now above $22 billion annually, Vietnam compensation costs are roughly twice the size of the FBI's annual budget. And while many disabled  Vietnam vets have been compensated for post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss or general wounds, other ailments are positioning the war to have large costs even after veterans die.

Based on an  uncertain  link to the defoliant Agent Orange that was used in Vietnam,  federal officials approved diabetes a decade ago as an ailment that  qualifies  for cash compensation — and it is now the most compensated  ailment for Vietnam vets.

The VA also recently included heart disease among the Vietnam medical problems that qualify, and the agency  is seeing  thousands of new claims for that condition.

THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED MAJOR CONFLICTS

If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and  their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat.

An Associated  Press analysis of federal payment records found that the  government is  still making monthly payments to relatives of Civil War  veterans — 148  years after the conflict ended.

At the anniversary of  the start of the Iraq War, more than $40 billion a  year was going to  compensate veterans and survivors from the  Spanish-American War from 1898, World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the two Iraq campaigns and the Afghanistan conflict. And  those costs are rising rapidly.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said such expenses should remind the nation about war's long-lasting financial toll.

"When we decide to go to war, we have to consciously be also thinking about the cost," said Murray, D-Wash., adding that her WWII veteran father's disability benefits helped feed their family.

With greater numbers of troops surviving combat injuries because of   improvements in battlefield medicine and technology, the costs of disability payments are set to rise much higher.

So far, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the first Persian Gulf conflict in the early 1990's have cost about $12 billion a year to compensate those who have left military service or family members of those who  have died.

Those post-service compensation costs have totaled  more than $50 billion since 2003, not including expenses of medical  care and  other benefits provided to veterans, and are poised to grow  for many years to come.

The new veterans are filing for  disabilities at  historic rates, with about 45 percent of those from  Iraq and Afghanistan  seeking compensation for injuries. Many are seeking compensation for a  variety of ailments at once.

Experts see a variety of factors  driving that surge, including a bad economy that's led more jobless  veterans to seek the financial benefits they've  earned, troops who  survive wounds of war, and more awareness about  head trauma and mental  health.

THE FUTURE

Recent events involving US war "Interventions" in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Gaza Conflict demonstrate the incredibly out of control nature of the Military Industrial Complexes in the major advanced countries. We are receiving daily demonstrations of their danger, their folly and their contribution to the largest national debt ever to grace the face of the earth.

A Soldier's View On Interventions For Profit

Alternatives to war in terms of negotiation, scientific advancement and cooperation among world governments not only are required but are the only feasible solution to the present state of our global affairs. The war makers are going broke, subjecting the planet to tremendous risk and operating on world credit subject to world approval."

What Can We Learn From People Who Are Different From Us To Avoid Future 'Walls Of Faces'?

New Law Helps Thousands Of Veterans With Delinquent Mortgages Avoid Foreclosure

 

Image: Crosscountrymortgage.com

“STARS AND STRIPES” By Linda F. Hersey

“Under the program, the VA buys a portion of the veteran’s debt and secures a lien on the property, according to the bill. The veteran does not have to pay off the claim until the home is sold or refinanced.”

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“Thousands of financially distressed veterans at risk of foreclosure will become eligible for federal assistance under a new program signed into law Wednesday that allows them to defer monthly mortgage payments temporarily without losing their homes. The VA Home Loan Program Reform Act authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to create a “permanent partial claims program” that gives veterans a second chance to stay in their homes, according to the bill’s supporters.

Under the program, the VA buys a portion of the veteran’s debt and secures a lien on the property, according to the bill. The veteran does not have to pay off the claim until the home is sold or refinanced. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law at a ceremony attended by Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., who is chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., the bill’s sponsor. “This bill provides desperately needed relief to veterans and their families who have fallen behind on their mortgages,” Trump said.

The legislation, which passed unanimously in the House and Senate, is expected to help up to 70,000 homeowners with VA-backed loans who are more than three months behind on their mortgage payments, the lawmakers said. The legislation is intended for homeowners struggling to rebound from financial setbacks, such as a job loss or high medical bills.

More than 3.5 million veterans, active-duty service members and surviving spouses hold VA home loans, according to the VA. Van Orden described the legislation as providing “a path to maintain home ownership.” “Our veterans and their families should have every tool at their disposal to keep their homes and reduce the risk of foreclosure if they fall into financial hardship or endure a national disaster,” Bost said.

The bill helps veterans struggling with higher interest rates that make refinancing difficult, he said. It also protects the taxpayers’ investment in the VA home loan program, Bost said. The legislation also enables the VA to continue funding not-for-profit community agencies that run homeless prevention programs through the Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program.

The VA Home Loan Program Reform Act was established to replace a home loan bailout program created under the administration of former President Joe Biden that authorized the VA to purchase a veteran’s entire home loan and restructure it at a lower interest rate. Van Orden and other Republican lawmakers had criticized the bill for its costs, which they said could reach $17 billion if the VA were to purchase 60,000 home loans.

The VA Home Loan Program Reform Act enacted Wednesday has the backing of the banking industry, including the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and other veterans advocacy groups also supported the bill.

“This critical legislation represents a profound commitment to safeguarding the financial security and dignity of veteran homeowners, especially during times of hardship,” said James LaCoursiere, national commander of the American Legion.”

New law helps thousands of veterans with delinquent mortgages avoid foreclosure 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Linda F. Hersey is a veterans reporter based in Washington, D.C. She previously covered the Navy and Marine Corps at Inside Washington Publishers. She also was a government reporter at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska, where she reported on the military, economy and congressional delegation.

A Citizen's Guide to Critique The Pentagon

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Ask yourself if there are not other alternatives for the future of our country, to include statesmanship, and international economic cooperation to cease warfare and weaponizing efforts among great nations. 

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We offer not only our opinion on the massive Military Industrial Complex, but also the opinions of three experts who have lived war fighting - on the recent fields of battle, and in weapons systems development.

The quotations are extracts from larger articles. We suggest the reader follow the links after each to become further informed. 

It is our hope that the facts offered here will contribute to the knowledge of US citizenry regarding hard decisions forthcoming on the nature of war fighting and its role in the future of our country.

OUR VIEW

Our view is expressed in the below article, an extract of which reads:

“Presidents, Congressmen, Cabinet Members and Appointees project a knowledgeable demeanor but they are spouting what they are told by career people who never go away and who train their replacements carefully. These are military and civil servants with enormous collective power, armed with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Defense Industrial Security Manuals, compartmentalized classification structures and "Rice Bowls" which are never mixed.

Our society has slowly given this power structure its momentum which is constant and extraordinarily tough to bend. The cost to the average American is exorbitant in terms of real dollars and bad decisions. Every major power structure member in the Pentagon's many Washington Offices and Field locations in the US and Overseas has a counterpart in Defense Industry Corporate America. That collective body has undergone major consolidation in the last 20 years. What used to be a broad base of competitive firms is now a few huge monoliths, such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Boeing, with neat stacks of exclusive, dedicated subcontractors under each. The stacked pricing load of these arrangements is enormously expensive.

Government oversight committees are carefully stroked. Men like Sam Nunn and others who were around for years in military and policy oversight roles have been cajoled, given into on occasion but kept in the dark about the real status of things until it is too late to do anything but what the establishment wants. This still continues - with increasing high technology and potential for abuse.”

What The American Public Must Know About The Pentagon

A FELLOW VETERAN’S VIEW

Paul Riedner

Paul Riedner is a graduate of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. and personally, sacrificed four years in support of war effort -- one deployed as an army engineer diver.

“There remain countless inner struggles that lurk in dark corners of my psyche. They are difficult to measure or even explain.

What does it mean to have been a part of this war?

To have been a part of: 4,500 American deaths; 33,000 Americans wounded; estimates as high as 600,000 Iraqi deaths; more than $1 trillion in taxpayer money spent; $9 billion lost or unaccounted for; huge corporate profiteering; a prisoner-abuse scandal; a torture record worthy of the Hague; a hand in the financial crisis, and runaway unemployment when we get home.

I've learned that we are easily duped and that we quickly forget. Saddam has WMDs. No, we are exporting democracy. No, we are protecting human rights, and by the way, their oil will pay for it all.

I've learned that 9/11 was used against us. We gladly handed over our civil liberties in the name of security. And recently our Congress quietly reapproved the unconstitutional Patriot Act.”

Among Iraq war's many losses: Trust

AN OFFICER’S VIEW

Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel L. Davis

Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel L. Davis was on active duty in the United States Army, serving as a Regular Army officer in the Armor Branch when he wrote this article. He had just completed his fourth combat deployment. (Desert Storm, Afghanistan in 2005-06, Iraq in 2008-09, and Afghanistan again in 2010-11). In the middle of his career he served eight years in the US Army Reserve and held a number of civilian jobs, one of which was an aide for US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (Legislative Correspondent for Defense and Foreign Affairs).

From “Dereliction of Duty II

Senior Military Leaders’ Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort 27 January 2012”

“We have lavished praise a few of our senior military leaders for being “warrior-scholars” whose intellectualism exceeds those of most wearing the uniform. But what organization in the world today – whether an international terrorist organization or virtually every major company on the globe – needs physical territory on which to plan “future 9/11 attacks”? Most are well acquainted with the on-line and interconnected nature of numerous global movements. We here in the United States know video conferencing, skyping, emailing, texting, twittering, Facebooking, and virtually an almost limitless number of similar technologies.

And a few men have convinced virtually the entire Western world that we must stay on the ground in one relatively postage-stamp sized country – even beyond a decade and a half – to prevent “another 9/11” from being planned, as though the rest of the world’s geography somehow doesn’t matter, and more critically, that while the rest of the world does its planning on computers and other electronic means, al-Qaeda must be capable only of making such plans on the ground, and only on the ground in Afghanistan.

When one considers what these few leaders have asked us to believe in light of the facts pointed out above, the paucity of logic in their argument becomes evident. What has been present in most of those arguments, however, has been emotionally evocative words designed to play strongly on American patriotism: “…this is where 9/11 was born!” “these young men did not die in vain” “this is a tough fight” etc. It is time – beyond time – for the evidence and facts to be considered in their comprehensive whole in a candid and honest public forum before we spend another man or woman’s life or limbs in Afghanistan."

Dereliction of Duty Report

A PENTAGON DEFENSE ANALYST’S VIEW

Franklin C. "Chuck  " Spinney

Franklin C. "Chuck  " Spinney Pentagon’s Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation (better-known by its former name, Systems Analysis, set up to make independent evaluations of Pentagon Policy)

Author - "Defense Facts of Life: The Plans-Reality Mismatch", which sharply criticized defense budgeting, arguing that the defense bureaucracy uses unrealistic assumptions to buy in to unsustainable programs, and explaining how the pursuit of complex technology produced expensive, scarce and inefficient weapons. Spinney spent his career refining and expanding this analysis. The report was largely ignored despite a growing reform movement, whose goal was to reduce military budget increases from 7% to 5% after inflation. Two years later, he expounded on his first report, including an analysis on the miscalculation of the burden costs of a majority of the weapon systems and re-titled it "Defense facts of life: The Plans/Reality Mismatch", which later became simply known as the "Spinney Report":

“And that's why we ought to treat the defense industry as a public sector; and if we did that then you wouldn't see these gross disparities in salaries creeping in. But essentially if you try to understand what's going on in the Pentagon and this is the most important aspect, and it gets at the heart of our democracy. Is that we have an accounting system that is unauditable. Even by the generous auditing requirements of the federal government.

Now what you have to understand is the kind of audits I'm talking about these are not what a private corporation would do with a rigorous accounting system. Essentially the audits we are required to do are mandated under the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, and a few amendments thereafter. But it's the CFO Act of 1990 that's the driver.

And it basically was passed by Congress that required the inspector generals of each government department, not just the Pentagon, but NASA, health, education, welfare, all the other departments, interior department where the inspector general has to produce an audit each year. Saying, basically verifying that the money was spent on what Congress appropriated it for. Now that's not a management accounting audit. It's basically a checks and balances audit.

Well, the Pentagon has never passed an audit. They have 13 or 15, I forget the exact number, of major accounting categories. That each one has it's own audit. The only one of those categories that's ever been passed is the retirement account.

Now under the CFO Act of 1990 they have to do this audit annually. Well, every year they do an audit and the inspector general would issue a report saying we have to waive the audit requirements, because we can't balance the books. We can't tell you how the money got spent.

Now what they do is try to track transactions. And in one of the last audits that was done the transactions were like… there were like $7 trillion in transactions. And they couldn't account for about four trillion of those transactions. Two trillion were unaccountable and two trillion they didn't do, and they accounted for two trillion.”

Bill Moyer's Journal

CONCLUSION:

The material here is submitted on its own merits. Consider it carefully as the Pentagon consumes enormous amounts of US disposable tax revenue and our national debt exceeds $37 Trillion.  National Debt Clock

Ask yourself if there are other alternatives for the future of our country, to include statesmanship, international economic cooperation and de-weaponizing efforts among great nations.