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William Hartung

William Hartung

Director, Arms & Security Program

William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Program at CIP and a senior adviser to the center's Security Assistance Monitor. He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books, 2011) and the co-editor, with Miriam Pemberton, of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War (Paradigm Press, 2008). His previous books include And Weapons for All (HarperCollins, 1995), a critique of U.S. arms sales policies from the Nixon through Clinton administrations. From July 2007 through March 2011, Mr. Hartung was the director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. Prior to that, he served as the director of the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams. Bill Hartung’s articles on security issues have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and the World Policy Journal. He has been a featured expert on national security issues on CBS 60 Minutes, NBC Nightly News, the PBS Newshour, CNN, Fox News, and scores of local, regional, and international radio outlets. He blogs for the Huffington Post, the Hill, and Medium.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

November 30, 2021

Arming Repression: U.S. Military Support for Saudi Arabia, From Trump to Biden

By William D. Hartung

An in-depth look at the United States' role in supporting the military in Saudi Arabia. This report details how the U.S. is involved with the Kingdom's regime through U.S. arms in the Saudi arsenal, military training of Saudi forces, and use of U.S. weapons in the naval blockade of Yemen.

Arming Repression: U.S. Military Support for Saudi Arabia, From Trump to Biden
ISSUE BRIEF
October 12, 2021

Profiteers Of Armageddon: Producers Of The Next Generation Of Nuclear Weapons

by William Hartung

It’s long past time that we stopped allowing special interest lobbying and corporate profits
stand in the way of a more sensible nuclear policy.

Profiteers Of Armageddon: Producers Of The Next Generation Of Nuclear Weapons
FACTSHEET
September 30, 2021

Factsheet: Profits of War

William Hartung

The reaction to the 9/11 attacks created a political climate that opened the floodgates to massive increases in Pentagon spending with few questions asked. Since the start of the war in Afghanistan, Pentagon spending has totaled over $14 trillion, one-half or more of which went to defense contractors. After the 9/11 attacks, the Pentagon budget increased year after year for 10 years running, peaking in 2010 at the highest level since World War II.

Factsheet: Profits of War

LATEST NEWS

December 9, 2021

“An Outrage”: House Passes Largest Military Budget in Generations Despite End of Afghanistan War

William Hartung interviewed

“The last thing we need to do is be throwing more money at the Pentagon,” says William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy. “This whole idea that China and Russia are military threats to the United States has primarily been manufactured to jump up the military budget.”

December 8, 2021

Anti-Boycott Laws Threaten Free Speech + U.S. Arms Enable Saudi Assault on Yemen

William Hartung interviewed

Our William Hartung was interviewed in Parallax Views, a popular progressive podcast, on the war in Yemen and how U.S. arm sales have enabled the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to carry out deadly blockades and bombings on Yemeni people.

December 8, 2021

Yemen and the U.S.’s massive Saudi arms deal

William Hartung quoted

Mehdi Hasan quoting our report, "Arming Repression: U.S. Military Support for Saudi Arabia, From Trump to Biden." The MSNBC show covers the $650 million arms sale to Saudi Arabia, which will allow the Kingdom to maintain attack helicopters, despite their previous use against Houthis in Yemen.

December 7, 2021

Senate Votes Down Resolution to Block $650 Million Missile Sale to Saudis

William Hartung quoted

Paul Wrote: "According to William Hartung, no weapon is exclusively defensive and continued American arm sales means continued death and starvation in Yemen.”

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