As important as national security spending is, we can’t allow a single dollar to be wasted.
National security spending including the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, the State Department and the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy account for well over half of the $1.2 trillion discretionary budget. A budget this massive can be used to mask waste and inefficiency that would be obvious elsewhere. And the universal support for national security spending across party lines has made the annual defense spending bill the most attractive vehicle for many unrelated pet projects.
We monitor presidential, agency, and congressional spending requests, looking for duplications, over budget and unaffordable weapons systems, and projects driven by parochial or industry concerns rather than by sound security strategy.
