Chris Hellman, Senior Research Analyst for the National Priorities Project, discusses his article “How Much Does Washington Spend on ‘Defense;’” the GOP’s plan to cut the “meals on wheels” program instead of the Pentagon’s budget; how constant threat-hyping makes Americans believe Iran is more threatening than the Soviet Union in its heyday; how outsourcing failed to reduce the size and cost of government; and why a few budget items should be higher, like nuclear waste storage.

Chris Hellman, Senior Research Analyst for the National Priorities Project, discusses his article “How Safe Are You? What Almost $8 Trillion in National Security Spending Bought You” at tomdispatch.com; how cutting projected DoD spending increases could solve future government spending cuts mandated by the recent debt ceiling compromise; why the homeland security industry needs to hype terrorism threats to justify hefty budgets in a time of austerity; why casual readers of Antiwar.com know...

Chris Hellman, Communications and Budget Analyst for the National Priorities Project, discusses the $1.2 trillion national security budget; how government secrecy and over-classification of documents hides wasteful programs and prevents Congressional oversight; huge projected increases in health care and pensions for veterans and retired military; and the bloated Homeland Security, intelligence and State Department budgets.