Six Stops on the National Security Tour: Rethinking Warfare Economies

Description

The U.S. military economy incorporates hundreds of American communities. This is the first book to connect our national security apparatus to the local level via deeply reported portraits of six carefully selected locations, including military Meccas and out-of-the-way places. They are woven into the warfare economy by bases, nuclear weapons labs, and production sites. The book includes an invaluable overview of how the military is structured, how its budget is made, and what it costs. It also shows how the military economy perpetuates itself. In on-the-ground reporting, Pemberton traces the lines of connection between the tour stops presented here and our country’s foreign policy, industrial policy, and budget priorities. She examines the meaning of national security in the current moment, as climate change becomes what the military itself calls "an urgent and growing threat." And she dramatically demonstrates how redirecting our militarized foreign and industrial policy toward climate security can help these communities become part of the solution. For students, scholars, public servants, and all concerned citizens, this book is essential reading. Cover Half Title Endorsement Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Figures Acknowledgments Introduction “National Security” Notes 1 Overview in Brief What Does Our Military Budget Buy? A Few Basic Facts What Forces Has the Pentagon Amassed to Serve this Goal (A Partial List)? Who Does What How the Military Gets Its Money How Did We Get Here? The Military-Industrial Complex Origin Story in Brief What the U.S. Military Costs What These Levels Include, and What They Don’t Is the U.S. Military Budget Enough? Too Much? Can We Afford It? Overkill? We’re Spending Too Much If We’re Wasting It The Military Industrial Congressional Complex Is Highly Organized to Inflate Military Spending Conclusion Notes 2 Connecticut: A Choice Visible On Two Sides of a River A Slice of Life at HASC Connecticut’s Military Triangle Jobs Two Labor Visionaries Labor and Economic Conversion Labor Tackles the End of the Cold War Harrity’s Other Conversion Experience Since Then … Where Are the Machinists? Conclusion Openings to a New Future Notes 3 Johnstown, PA: From Coal to the King of Pork A Legacy of Coal and Steel How to Build a Military Economy—From Scratch Earmarks Ways and Means Corrupt? Illegal? Whither Earmarks? The Military Market Contracts, 2011–2015 What Now? A Plan for Defense Diversification Where Do Things Stand Now? Johnstown’s Contractors: Three Different Paths Getting Out Staying In Straddling: Johnstown Welding and Fabrication (JWF) Capitalizing On Change Conclusion Notes 4 Southern California: Green Capital of the World Or Aerospace Central? The Military Economy Crashes Nakamoto At the Federal Level Industrial Policy: Is There Only One? California in the Vanguard Adapting Aerospace Technology: Lon Bell Finance: The Pentagon Versus Everybody Else California Struggles to Birth a New Industrial Policy California’s Military Mecca Hangs On San Diego Diversification? Los Angeles Three of the Big Five Head Over the Hills Boom and Bust: The B-2 Bomber Plant 42 Today The Hidden Drama at Plant 42 Buy American? Southern California: “Aerospace Capital” Or “Green Economy Capital”? Conclusion Notes 5 Pine Bluff: Foreign Policy Comes Home to Arkansas From Cotton to Chemical Warfare Chemical Weapons: Their Legacy in Brief The Pine Bluff Arsenal Chemical and Biological Weapons Go Out of Business Pine Bluff Arsenal Gets a New Mission Now What? Shut the Arsenal Down? Pine Bluff Stakeholders Convene The Bioplex And Beyond the Bioplex? Doubling Down On the Military Economy Conclusion Notes 6 Los Alamos, NM: Weathering a Midlife Crisis What’s There The Human Geography How All This Came to Be Here Cold War Los Alamos What Los Alamos Does Now Secrecy Los Alamos’ Nuclear Weapons Work Nuclear Non-Proliferation Work Beyond Nuclear Research Contamination Jobs Diversification The Nuclear Complex How Many, What Kinds, for What Reasons, at What Costs? Costs It Could Have Been Different And It Must Be Different Conclusion Notes 7 New Frontiers for Militarism Militarization of the Border The Big Pentagon Contractors Cash In Breaking Into the Club The Military’s New Frontiers Hypersonic Weapons Missile Defense Artificial Intelligence New Frontiers of Danger The Militarization of Space Stopping a New Arms Race On the Frontiers Conclusion Thinking Beyond the Box Notes 8 Greater Binghamton, NY: Swords Into Plowshares An Economic Evolution Swords Into Plowshares: How To, and How Not to Navigating the Move(s) Getting a Business Up and Running (Literally) Sold The BAE Era Begins Under New Management The Setback That Wasn’t The Flood Plain Endicott Industrial Policy for the Next Level In the Game Binghamton’s Military Economy and Its Other Ambitions Conclusion Notes 9 Conclusion The Military Dominance Doctrine Economic Interests The Fate of U.S. Military Spending Ways to Cut Honest Assessors, Including One Long-Term Secretary of Defense, Acknowledge That this Military Budget Hides Plenty of Waste. Robert Gates Served as Defense Secretary—in Both the Bush II and Obama Administrations. In 2009 He Declared This Cutting Isn’t Enough Do Military Contractors Have a Role? But Can the U.S. Addiction to Excessive Military Spending Be Curbed? Congress The Administration Civil Society Corporations Public Opinion The Last Word Is a Question Notes Appendix Index