Wrapping up April with CIP
Pentagon Budget Overspending, Democratic Demonstrations in Africa and more from CIP this week.
Arms & Security Directory William Hartung reminds voters of the importance of reducing the Pentagon budget- and how those reductions could free up taxpayer money for more worthy public purposes.
Democratic Demonstrations in Africa, PBS Newshour
CIP President & CEO Salih Booker provides historical context and expert interpretation to the recent wave of protests in countries like Algeria, Sudan, Libya, and Mali.
About the new Africa Program:
CIP’s Africa Program tracks and analyzes U.S. foreign policy toward the nations of Africa. By informing policymakers, the media, scholars, NGOs and the public – both in the United States and Africa – about trends and issues related to U.S. foreign policy toward Africa, CIP seeks to promote greater positive U.S. engagement with the nations of Africa and with Africa’s regional and continental organizations. CIP works to increase the level of transparency in U.S. relations with Africa and to promote greater Congressional oversight with regard to policies concerning human rights and democracy, security cooperation, economic development, trade policies and other U.S. policies on global issues that impact the continent such as climate change and migration.
The Africa Program will produce occasional reports, articles and commentary; and also organize roundtable discussions and briefings to promote an informed debate about key U.S. policies toward Africa. CIP’s objective is to promote the demilitarization of U.S. Africa policy and to increase peaceful engagement through diplomacy and development cooperation to address regional and global challenges.
Read the latest report from Security Assistance Monitor, written with the help of Arms & Security Director William Hartung.
Click the image below to read the report.
Key takeaways:
Massive Sales Continue: The Trump administration made $78.8 billion in arms deals in 2018, more than enough to sustain the U.S. role as the world’s number one weapons exporting nation.
Exporting Arms, Exporting Jobs: Fully one-quarter of U.S. arms deals in 2018 were for licenses to manufacture U.S. weapons overseas.
Arms Sales a Poor Job Creator: Arms sales create only a fraction of the number of jobs claimed by President Trump and the arms industry. In all, less than two-tenths of one percent of U.S. jobs are tied to arms exports, and many of those jobs involve production of U.S. arms in other countries.
Regional Shift to Europe & Eurasia: There was a sharp shift in the regional distribution of U.S. arms sales from 2017 to 2018. Offers to Europe and Eurasia accounted for 55% of deals in 2018, nearly double the region’s 29.5% share in 2017. Deals with countries in the Middle East and North Africa dropped from 36.6% in 2017 to 21.9% in 2018.
Gun Exports Surge: Firearms offers increased by more than 14% in 2018, to $759 million from $662 million in 2017. The biggest recipient by far was Saudi Arabia, with over $579 million in deals. Other sales of concern include a deal for the Philippines, where police and military forces have engaged in extrajudicial killings that have left thousands dead and injured.
Arms Makers Cash In: A handful of corporations were the main beneficiaries of U.S. arms exports. The top five arms exporters, based on deals of $500 million or more, were Lockheed Martin, which was involved in deals worth $25 billion; Boeing, $7.1 billion in deals; Raytheon, $5.5 billion in deals; Northrop Grumman, had one deal worth $2.5 billion; and BAE systems, which had a $1.3 billion deal.