EUA, Depto Defesa: "Precisamos de uma nova ameaça, justifica continuar a gastar em armas".
Chuck Spinney, worked as an analyst in the US Secretary of Defense's office for over a quarter of a century. Spinney argues:"We need a threat. Al-Qaeda has sort of run out of strength and we have to have a new threat to justify continued spending. We are going to pivot to Asia and increase the defence budget.".The Al Qaeda threat will be met by means that leave a smaller footprint and although the threat is regarded as expanding, a new enemy such as China or perhaps Russia will offer opportunities for greater expenditures. He claims that the way that the military-industrial complex works makes it very difficult to reap much of a peace dividend from ending the war in Iraq and Afghanistan: "It's what in Washington we call an iron triangle, you have an alliance between the private sector, the defence contractors, the executive branch, in this case the Pentagon, and the legislative branch.
"Since every one of the three groups benefits from defense expenditures, the result is a budget "that is packed to the gills with weapons we don't need, with weapons that are underestimated in their future costs". The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the defense contractors estimate the costs of projects much too low and also give positive spin to early results in order to "turn on the money spigot". The companies also engage in what Spinney calls "political engineering" by spreading contracts around so that many politicians support the project even after costs increase.
