June-July 1995
The Pentagon Budget:
How Much Is Too Much?
The Mainstream Media Project's first campaign focused on the U.S. military budget. With the Cold War over and no rival to replace the former Soviet Union, the Pentagon's pleas to sustain its budget at Cold War levels were less persuasive than usual. Yet President Clinton sought large increases in military spending, and as the defense authorization bill made its way through Congress, there was virtually no debate challenging the Pentagon's immunity to budget cuts. The White House firmly warned Congressional Democrats not to challenge the President's proposed Pentagon budget. Then the House voted to give the Pentagon $9 billion more than the President requested.
MMP guests focused on waste, incompetence and possible abuse in Pentagon accounting, arms subsidies and "payoffs for layoffs" (compensation for defense industry mergers), and the Russian elections in June and their possible impacts on U.S. foreign and military policies. The campaign featured live interviews from Moscow with Stephen Cohen of Princeton, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine, and Michael McFaul of Stanford University. Later in the summer we returned to the topic with Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream) and other CEOs who had together founded an organization called Business Leaders for New Priorities. (In honor of the Pentagon budget, Ben introduced a new flavor of ice cream: "Totally Nuts.")
Guest Speakers
Greg Bischak, Executive Director, Commission on Economic Conversion and Disarmament
Naila Bolus, Co-Director, 20/20 Vision
Adm. Eugene Carroll, Deputy Director, Center for Defense Information
Joseph Cirincione, Senior Associate, Henry L. Stimson Center
Michael Closson, Executive Director, Center for Economic Conversion
William Colby, Former Director of CIA
Jonathan Dean, Senior Advisor, Union of Concerned Scientists
Lloyd Jeffry Dumas, Professor, University of Texas, Dallas
Daniel Ellsberg, Director, Manhattan Project II
William Hartung, Director, Arms Trade Research Center, World Policy Institute
Victoria Holt, Director, Project on Peacekeeping and the United Nations, Council for a Livable World
John Isaacs, President and Executive Director, Council for a Livable World
Suzy Kerr, Council for a Livable World
Lawrence Korb, Chairman, Campaign for National Security, Brookings Institution (Former Assistant Secretary of Defense)
Ann Markusen, Director, Project on Regional and Industrial Economics, Rutgers University
Sima Osdoby, Director of Policy and Program, Women's Action for New Directions (WAND)
James Paul, Executive Director, Global Policy Forum
Caleb Rossiter, Director, Project on Demilitarization and Democracy
Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-CO), Congresswoman
Adm. Jack Shanahan, Director, Center for Defense Information
Michael Simmons, American Friends Service Committee
Angelia Smith, Director, Peace Economy Campaign, Peace Action
Amy Smithson, Senior Associate, Henry L. Stimson Center
Paul Walker, Former Lead Staffer, House Armed Services Committee
Jennifer Weeks, Representative for Arms Control and international Security, Union of Concerned Scientists
