Tag: Hartung

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Review: Prophets of War–Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex

4 Star, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Congress (Failure, Reform), Corruption, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Culture, Research, Economics, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Force Structure (Military), Impeachment & Treason, Intelligence (Government/Secret), Military & Pentagon Power, Misinformation & Propaganda, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Public Administration, Science & Politics of Science, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Security (Including Immigration), Stabilization & Reconstruction, Strategy, Threats (Emerging & Perennial), True Cost & Toxicity, War & Face of Battle
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William Hartung

4.0 out of 5 stars Final Review: Boring, Limited, Not for General Audience

January 3, 2011

After reading this book, which I found to be extremely boring, I have to give Pierre Sprey very high marks for his substantive contributions to the C-SPAN Book interview of the author. My summary of that interview is therefore an important part of my summary of this book. It can be seen at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog by searching for the two names Pierre Sprey William Hartung without quotes or brackets.

I reduce the book to four from five stars because it is a lazy book–no charts, no maps, just a blast of names and dates and numbers–VERY boring. However righteous, this book could have been much better.

Comments:

+ 29B per year in revenue from the Pentagon, probably is low number, is not that much.

+ Lockheed grossly exaggerates job numbers and refuses to back them up.

+ Lockheed wins with low bids and the Pentagon acquisition folks are so inept or politically influenced they accept that.

+ Lockheed is the poster child for a broken acquisition system–quite right–that does not make them the bad guys.

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Journal: What’s Wrong with American defense….

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Analysis, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, History, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Military, Officers Call, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Standards, Strategy, Technologies

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Phi Beta Iota: Notes summarizing the 59 minute video are below the line.

….Watch this!!!!!  My good friend Pierre Sprey interviews Bill Hartung on Book TV about Hartung's new book, Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.

The book is a history of the largest military contractor in U.S. history, Lockheed Martin.  Hartung argues that with 25 billion dollars annually in Defense Department contracts, Lockheed Martin's reach into American life is extensive and largely unknown, including creation of satellites used to spy on the phone calls of American citizens.  He discusses the company's size, scope and influence with Pierre Sprey, father of the A-10 and F-16 military aircraft and a well-known thorn in the Pentagon's side.  Chuck

William Hartung

Mr. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation.  He is the author of How Much are You Making on the War Daddy? and And Weapons for All.  He's written for the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and The Nation magazine.

NOTE:  Title leads to Words, WATCH leads to the actual playing of the video.

After Words: William Hartung, "Prophets of War," hosted by Pierre Sprey

Summary of the 59 minute back and forth CSPAN BookTV Interview:

Continue reading “Journal: What’s Wrong with American defense….”