The "military industrial complex"

[BL611]

I see this term thrown around by DUers and the left in general. It doesn't seem though that many how use it understand the origins of it, and in particular Eisenhower's speech. The speech was meant as a direct attack on JFK and the Democrats. The military-industrial complex could also be called from an economic perspective military keynesianism, it was used by Kennedy and the Dem's as a way to bolster public spending under the auspices of national defense which they saw as the most politically efficacious way to do it. In short the military industrial complex is a right wing theory not aimed at Halliburton but at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Program Agencies) and public planning.

[firefox]

1. MIC is not theory and Halliburton is definitely part of it. nt

[BL611]

2. Did you even read my post???

[firefox]

13. Yes

[LSK]

3. read this book

Blank Check : The Pentagon's Black Budget (Hardcover)

by Tim Weiner

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This expanded follow-up to Weiner's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1988 Philadelphia Inquirer series exposing the Pentagon's secret treasury offers a comprehensive look at the origin and growth of this budget and the weapons and wars it has financed. Among the programs examined are the Stealth bomber (an "impossibly expensive mistake") and a satellite system called MILSTAR which is central to the plan to "win" a nuclear war that will already have been lost in the event of its activation. Weiner brings to light black-budgeted activities of a cadre of colonels, retired generals and CIA agents, a virtual hidden army within the U.S. Army that "came close to hijacking a fair amount of power" during the Reagan years. This hard-hitting expose of power out of control, immune from accountability, is well documented. It reveals how the executive office, the Pentagon and the CIA have squandered billions of dollars on useless weapons and renegade foreign policies. First serial to Rolling Stone; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this book based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles for the Philadelphia Inquirer , journalist Weiner probes the way the Pentagon has used secret budgets to fund huge military programs. This has grown to the point that there are now more than 100 multimillion- and multibillion-dollar weapons systems, many of them nuclear weapons designed to fight and win World Wars III and IV, built without the awareness of the public or even the Congress. Weiner takes a close look at programs such as the Stealth bomber and provides fascinating detail from Congressional testimony. The thesis of the book--that secrecy in government military programs is antithetical to democracy--is well documented and hugely important. As the Cold War draws to a close and military budgets come under attack, the public and Congress may tend to forget the defense establishment's inclination toward secrecy and self-perpetuation. Weiner's book serves as a timely reminder that this would be unwise. Highly recommended.
- Jennifer Scarlott, World Policy Inst., New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446514527/102-8271924-2668932?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

[BL611]

5. This is not what the Eisenhower speech was based on

Certainly a large amount of defense spending goes into weapons systems, but much also goes into fostering new technology such as the internet and gives our economy a degree of public planning. This is what the Eisenhower MI speck was attacking, not bombers....

[LSK]

10. it covers Eisenhower era nuclear war plans

Generals going off and thinking of crazy plans to win a nuclear war. Its all related.

[RobertSeattle]

4. Got a link?

I'd have to admit that all my life I thought MIC meant "the big bad defense companies". I've never heard it explained this way.

[BL611]

6. Off hand,no

But it shouldn't be hard to find, many people have written on it, not so much from a military perspective as a economic one. Look up authors who write comparing the American market system to more mercantile oriented systems.

[IkeWarnedUs]

7. Eisenhower's farewell speech 1961

Farewell Radio and Television Address to the American People by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961.


Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peace time, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United State corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Link to the whole transcript:
http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/farewell.htm

[Don Claybrook]

8. It sounds like the conventional view on this is correct

Eisenhower was warning about the GE's and the Raytheons and the Lockheed-Martins. Thanks for your post. The OP may wish to post some sort of link to corroborate his claim.

[IkeWarnedUs]

9. it may be because of this next section

In fairness to the op point, they may be refering to this. It is the next four paragraphs. I don't agree with the op's conclusion if this is the section they were thinking about:

---------------------
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
----------------------

Ike makes a few good points that we would do well to contemplate now. It is well worth reading.

[Don Claybrook]

12. Thanks yet again.

I'll bookmark your link so that I can read the entire speech.

[DrDebug]

11. It was meant to be even broader...

The term "Military Industrial Complex" was first used by Dwight Eisenhower in his last speech as president of the United States (17th January, 1961).

Eisenhower’s speech was written by Malcolm Moos. There is reliably information that the first draft of the speech included the term “Military Industrial Congressional Complex”. Objections were raised and was changed to “Military Industrial Complex”. You can read about Moos here:

http://www1.umn.edu/pres/05_hist_moos.html

For a longer more detailed story: http://www.fff.org/freedom/0595d.asp