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Forum on the Arms Trade Experts

Expert

William Hartung

William Hartung

United States
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Principal Advisor | Project on Government Oversight
Contact
X / Twitter
Phone:
(917) 923-3202
Email:
bill.hartung@pogo.org

William Hartung was recently Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His work focuses on the arms industry and U.S. military budget. He was previously the director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy and the co-director of the Center’s Sustainable Defense Task Force.

He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books, 2011) and the co-editor, with Miriam Pemberton, of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War (Paradigm Press, 2008). His previous books include And Weapons for All (HarperCollins, 1995), a critique of U.S. arms sales policies from the Nixon through Clinton administrations.

From July 2007 through March 2011, Hartung was the director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. Prior to that, he served as the director of the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams. Hartung’s articles on security issues have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and the World Policy Journal. He has been a featured expert on national security issues on CBS 60 Minutes, NBC Nightly News, the Lehrer Newshour, CNN, Fox News, and scores of local, regional, and international radio outlets. 

Featured Publications

Military Spending Isn’t the Royal Road to Innovation

Disarming Humorist Substack | August 27, 2026.
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Scrapping Excess Weapons Is The Only Practical Road To Peace

Forbes | August 2, 2026.
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Voters: The military makes us feel safe but not sure it's worth a trillion

Responsible Statecraft | July 15, 2026.
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Publications

  • Military Spending Isn’t the Royal Road to Innovation
    Disarming Humorist Substack | August 27, 2026.
  • Scrapping Excess Weapons Is The Only Practical Road To Peace
    Forbes | August 2, 2026.
  • Voters: The military makes us feel safe but not sure it's worth a trillion
    Responsible Statecraft | July 15, 2026.
  • The Business of Arming the Middle East: U.S. Weapons Transfers from 1973 to Present
    PRISME/SALAM | July 8, 2026.
  • U.S. Military Presence in Hawai’i Faces Challenges From Skeptical Public
    Forbes | June 2, 2026.
  • Will Military Tech Firms Spark a Revolution in American Defense?
    Forbes | May 24, 2026.
  • Why is the US Silent about a Deadly Massacre in the Philippines?
    Inkstick | May 12, 2026.
  • New Report Emphasizes Downsides of a Militarized Economy
    Forbes | April 30, 2026.
  • The Administration’s New Budget Slashes Domestic Public Investment by Hundreds of Billions of Dollars
    Forbes | April 14, 2026.
  • $200 Billion For The Pentagon Means A Longer War and More Wasted Funds
    Forbes | March 19, 2026.
  • Commentary: The trillion dollar Iran war
    Tribune News Service | March 17, 2026.
  • Largest Weapons Firms are Cashing in Big Time on the Latest Middle East War
    Disarming Humorist Substack | March 10, 2026.
  • The Brave New War Machine
    Tom Dispatch | March 8, 2026.
  • The
    Disarming Humorist Substack | March 5, 2026.
  • The Costs of the War With Iran Will Mount For Decades
    Forbes | March 4, 2026.
  • Arsenal of democracy'? Arms makers the only winners in Ukraine
    Responsible Statecraft | February 24, 2026.
  • Can Emerging Military Tech Firms Provide A Better Defense For Less?
    Forbes | February 8, 2026.
  • Commentary: $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon is a recipe for waste and fraud
    Tribune News Service | February 3, 2026.
  • Does America Have a Defense Strategy?
    Forbes | January 26, 2026.
  • Venezuela, the Revival of Regime Change
    TomDispatch | January 22, 2026.
  • The reality of Trump’s cartoonish $1.5 trillion DOD budget proposal
    Responsible Statecraft | January 8, 2026.
  • Why the US Shouldn’t Pledge Long-Term Military Support for Israel
    National Interest | December 30, 2025.
  • The NSS and Pentagon Spending
    Quincy Policy Note #20 | December 17, 2025.
  • The Truth About Trump’s Monroe Doctrine Defense Strategy
    Forbes | December 5, 2025.
  • Congress Should Push Back Against the New US-Saudi Arms Agreement
    The Nation | November 24, 2025.
  • The Trillion Dollar War Machine
    pre-order available for November 11 | November 11, 2025.
  • When It Comes to Buying Weapons at the Pentagon, Speed Can Kill
    Forbes | November 6, 2025.
  • U.S. Military Aid and Arms Transfers to Israel, October 2023 – September 2025
    Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the Costs of War project housed at Brown University | October 7, 2025.
  • The US Military Isn’t a Political Weapon, but Trump and Hegseth Are Using It Like One
    Inkstick | October 1, 2025.
  • Oshkosh Hypocrisy: Corporate Ethics in the Age of Gaza
    Disarming Humorist substack | August 28, 2025.
  • Should the U.S. Government Take a Share in Lockheed Martin?
    Forbes | August 26, 2025.
  • We Have a Trillion Dollar Pentagon Budget. Now What?
    Forbes | August 25, 2025.
  • Urban Deployments Raise Questions: What Is The U.S. Military For?
    Forbes | August 16, 2025.
  • Palantir: As Revenues Rise, Controversy Grows
    Forbes | August 7, 2025.
  • Entering a Golden Age for War Profiteers
    Tom Dispatch | July 27, 2025.
  • Billions for weapons, rather than troops, won’t make us safer
    Los Angeles Times | July 22, 2025.
  • Congress poised to do less oversight on arms sales
    Responsible Statecraft | July 18, 2025.
  • Wear the war machine with Lockheed Martin merch
    Responsible Statecraft | July 16, 2025.
  • Feeding the Warfare State
    TomDispatch | July 1, 2025.
  • Don’t Get Dragged into a War with Iran
    National Interest | June 16, 2025.
  • Trump Sending Marines To LA Raises Legal Concerns About U.S. Military
    Forbes | June 11, 2025.
  • 5 ways the military industrial complex is a killer
    Responsible Statecraft | May 28, 2025.
  • The End of Human Rights?
    Tom Dispatch | May 27, 2025.
  • Donald Trump’s Golden Dome Missile Defense System And Techno-Optimism
    Forbes | May 21, 2025.
  • Saudi Arms Megadeal Will Come at a High Price
    Medium.com | May 18, 2025.
  • When a Trillion Is Not a Trillion: The Pentagon’s Budget Request
    Inkstick | May 12, 2025.
  • How Donald Trump Became the Arms Dealer in Chief
    Inkstick | April 30, 2025.
  • Trump’s Rush to Arm Foreign Clients Undermines US Security
    Inkstick | April 23, 2025.
  • The Ever-Expanding War Machine
    TomDispatch | April 22, 2025.
  • Can the Pentagon Stop Overpaying for Weapons Systems?
    Forbes | April 12, 2025.
  • Can Bernie stop billions in new US weapons going to Israel?
    Responsible Statecraft | April 1, 2025.
  • New Trump order slashes red tape for foreign weapons deals
    Responsible Statecraft | March 22, 2025.
  • The Pentagon is Still Getting a Free Ride in the Administration’s “Efficiency
    Drive | March 18, 2025.
  • Will He or Won’t He? Trump’s Record on Peacemaking
    Inkstick | March 11, 2025.
  • Can Europe Wean Itself of U.S. Arms?
    Forbes | March 10, 2025.
  • A Breath of Fresh Air on U.S. China Policy
    Forbes | March 6, 2025.
  • Trump lifts ban on US weapons companies bribing foreigners
    Responsible Statecraft | February 24, 2025.
  • Will DOGE Bring Real Change to the Pentagon?
    Forbes | February 19, 2025.
  • Will Trump keep promise to rein in War, Inc.?
    Responsible Statecraft | January 6, 2025.
  • Will Military Tech Firms Unseat Lockheed Martin?
    Forbes | December 26, 2024.
  • Trump Administration Conflicts-of-Interest Will Pose a Challenge For Congress
    Forbes | December 23, 2024.
  • The low hanging DOGE fruit at the Pentagon for Elon and Vivek
    Responsible Statecraft | December 3, 2024.
  • Will the Department of Government Efficiency Tackle the Pentagon?
    Forbes | November 14, 2024.
  • Big tech isn't gonna solve our problems
    Responsible Statecraft | November 6, 2024.
  • The Biden administration should own up to the costs of arming Israel in Gaza
    The Hill | October 17, 2024.
  • The Human Costs of the War in Gaza Are Even Greater Than You Think
    Forbes | October 15, 2024.
  • United States Spending on Israel’s Military Operations and Related U.S. Operations in the Region, October 7, 2023 – September 30, 2024
    Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University | October 7, 2024.
  • U.S. Arms On Both Sides Of War In Lebanon
    Forbes | October 6, 2024.
  • Is The UAE A Force For Stability In The Middle East?
    Forbes | September 27, 2024.
  • The NYT Op-ed Page Just Published an AI Weapons Infomercial
    Instick | September 18, 2024.
  • The last thing we need is a Palantir inspired foreign policy
    Responsible Statecraft | August 28, 2024.
  • Who gives 'Three Cheers for the Military-Industrial Complex'?
    Responsible Statecraft | August 22, 2024.
  • Former Pentagon Officials Overstate The Value Of Next Generation Technologies
    Forbes | July 3, 2024.
  • Philosopher Kings or New-Age Militarists?
    Tom Dispatch | June 25, 2024.
  • Navy Admiral’s bribery charges expose greater rot in the system
    Responsible Statecraft | June 7, 2024.
  • New Estimate Of Chinese Military Spending Doesn’t Hold Water
    Forbes | April 30, 2024.
  • What If The State Department Was Allowed To Do Its Job On Israel And Gaza?
    Forbes | 2024
  • Getting Past The Hype On Emerging Military Technologies Is A Life And Death Issue
    Forbes | April 19, 2024.
  • Biden OKs more arms to Israel, crushing hope of Gaza shift
    Responsible Statecraft | April 2, 2024.
  • Spending Unlimited: The Pentagon's Budget Follies Come at a High Price
    TomDispatch | March 26, 2024.
  • The Manfesto Of The Military “Techno-Optimists
    Forbes | March 23, 2024.
  • Another year, another delusional Pentagon budget request
    Responsible Statecraft | March 12, 2024.
  • Senators want to dust off 'Truman Committee' to out war profiteers
    Responsible Statecraft | March 7, 2024.
  • End Israeli exceptionalism under US law
    The Hill | February 2, 2024.
  • Former Pentagon Officials Overstate The Value Of Next Generation Technologies
  • Hyped China fears are driving a high-tech arms race
    Responsible Statecraft | December 6, 2023.
  • Biden Tries to Outdo Trump in Using Jobs to Justify Arms Transfers
    Forbes | December 5, 2023.
  • Good Times for the Military-Industrial Complex
    Tom Dispatch | November 12, 2023.
  • Israel’s War in Gaza, Subsidized by the USA
    The Nation | November 10, 2023.
  • What Paul Krugman gets wrong about the military-industrial complex
    Responsible Statecraft | November 3, 2023.
  • Aid for Israel and Ukraine is not an American jobs program
    Responsible Statecraft | October 27, 2023.
  • The Speaker Fiasco And The Future Of U.S. Security
    Forbes | October 26, 2023.
  • How to avoid a wider Mideast conflict
    Responsible Statecraft | October 10, 2023.
  • March of the Four–Stars: The Role of Retired Generals and Admirals in the Arms Industry
    Quincy Brief No.47 | October 4, 2023.
  • (link)
    Forbes | October 4, 2023.
  • AI Goes to War: Will the Pentagon's Techno-Fantasies Pave the Way for War with China?
    TomDispatch | October 3, 2023.
  • Does America Need a $1 Trillion Pentagon Budget?
    Forbes | September 28, 2023.
  • Why Are We Still Arming Saudi Arabia? | Opinion
    Newsweek | September 7, 2023.
  • Wall Street Journal love letter to the arms industry
    Responsible Statecraft | September 7, 2023.
  • Beware of Pentagon techno-enthusiasm
    Defense One | August 31, 2023.
  • Can Building Swarms of Drones Head Off War With China?
    Forbes | August 29, 2023.
  • Commentary: Congress shouldn’t create a new Pentagon slush fund
    Tribune News Service | August 8, 2023.
  • Senate bails out the weapons industry once again
    Responsible Statecraft | July 28, 2023.
  • Buying and selling arms stock while voting on war should be illegal
    Responsible Statecraft | July 25, 2023.
  • The Pentagon Authorization Bill Deserves to Be Defeated
    Forbes | June 29, 2023.
  • Lee amendment takes on arms company price gouging
    Responsible Statecraft | June 27, 2023.
  • The Ultimate All-American Slush Fund: How A New Budget Loophole Could Send Pentagon Spending Soaring Even Higher
    TomDispatch | June 20, 2023.
  • More Money, Less Security: Pentagon Spending and Strategy in the Biden Administration
    Quincy Paper No.12 | June 8, 2023.
  • Arms industry’s price gouging shows how greed trumps national interest
    Responsible Statecraft | May 23, 2023.
  • US foreign arms and training programs are out of control
    Responsible Statecraft | May 17, 2023.
  • Unwarranted Influence, Twenty-First-Century-Style: Not Your Grandfather’s Military-Industrial Complex
    TomDispatch | May 4, 2023.
  • New Revelations Underscore Need To Curb Defense Revolving Door
    Forbes | May 3, 2023.
  • Will The Pentagon Win The Debt Ceiling Fight?
    Forbes | April 26, 2023.
  • An End To Pentagon Wish Lists?
    Forbes | March 29, 2023.
  • Has Congress Learned the Lessons of the Iraq War?
    Defense One | March 29, 2023.
  • The Pentagon's Budget from Hell
    TomDispatch | March 26, 2023.
  • US dominates global arms trade as exports to Europe surge
    Responsible Statecraft | March 13, 2023.
  • Biden’s new whopping $886B defense budget request
    Responsible Statecraft | March 9, 2023.
  • Cranes, Planes, and Surveillance Balloons: Hyping the China Threat Harms U.S. Security
    Forbes | March 7, 2023.
  • New Bill Injects Note of Sanity Into Pentagon Spending Debate
    Forbes | February 22, 2023.
  • Merger Mania in the Military-Industrial Complex
    TomDispatch | February 14, 2023.
  • Will the Debt Limit Fight Impact Pentagon Spending?
    Forbes | January 30, 2023.
  • MLK’s anti-war views are more relevant than ever
    Responsible Statecraft | January 15, 2023.
  • Hawks blow a lot of hot air over proposed budget cuts
    Responsible Statecraft | January 10, 2023.
  • Will the Freedom Caucus Tank the Pentagon Budget?
    Forbes | January 9, 2023.
  • When It Comes to Defense, Money Isn't Everything
    Inkstick. January 3 | January 3, 2023.
  • Rhetoric vs. reality: Biden’s foreign policy in review
    Responsible Statecraft | December 29, 2022.
  • New Ukraine aid is a go — and it’s more than most states get in a year
    Responsible Statecraft | December 23, 2022.
  • Pentagon Profiteers: Executive Compensation In The Arms Industry
    Forbes | December 12, 2022.
  • New spending bill squanders billions on dysfunctional weapons programs
    Responsible Statecraft | December 9, 2022.
  • If the Biden administration won’t hold Mohammed Bin Salman accountable, Congress should
    The Hill | November 21, 2022.
  • Corporate Weapons Heaven Is a Hell on Earth
    TomDispatch | November 17, 2022.
  • It’s Time to Cut Off Arms Sales to the Saudi Regime
    The Nation | November 15, 2022.
  • Pentagon Blocks Contractor Push for Inflation Bailout
    Forbes | November 7, 2022.
  • Despite Outcries About Inflation, Major Arms Makers Are Doing Just Fine
    Forbes | October 28, 2022.
  • The U.S-Saudi Relationship Is Overrated
    The National Interest | October 25, 2022.
  • Bombs & guns: Biden’s ‘business as usual’ approach to US arms sales
    Responsible Statecraft | October 20, 2022.
  • Promoting Stability or Fueling Conflict? The Impact of U.S. Arms Sales on National and Global Security
    Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft | October 20, 2022.
  • An end to US military support for Saudi Arabia is long overdue
    The Hill | October 12, 2022.
  • Contractor Push For Inflation Increases Could Enable Profiteering
    Forbes | October 10, 2022.
  • Spending Unlimited: Contractors Cash in as Congress Adds Billions to the Pentagon Budget
    TomDispatch | September 11, 2022.
  • Weapons Contractors Thrive Despite Pandemic, Supply Chain Issues
    Forbes | August 9, 2022.
  • House military spending bill is a boon to the arms industry
    Responsible Statecraft | July 15, 2022.
  • Fueling the Warfare State
    Tom Dispatch | July 7, 2022.
  • Biden’s Mideast Agenda Could Increase the Risks of War
    Forbes | June 30, 2022.
  • Arsenal of Autocracy
    Tom Dispatch | May 24, 2022.
  • Spending Smarter on Defense means Spending Less
    Forbes | May 16, 2022.
  • The costs and risks of the new Ukraine aid package
    Tribune News Service | May 10, 2022.
  • Don’t Overinflate the Pentagon Budget
    Defense One | May 5, 2022.
  • Putting Biden’s new whopping $33B Ukraine package into context
    Responsible Statecraft | April 28, 2022.
  • Global military spending tops $2 trillion for the first time
    Responsible Statecraft | April 25, 2022.
  • The New Gold Rush: How Pentagon Contractors Are Cashing in on the Ukraine Crisis
    Tom Dispatch | April 17, 2022.
  • Biden’s new Pentagon budget request is too damn high
    Responsible Statecraft | March 28, 2022.
  • Commentary: Yemen: The forgotten war
    Tribune News Service | March 24, 2022.
  • Washington Should Think Twice Before Launching a New Cold War
    Tom Dispatch | March 22, 2022.
  • We’re #1: The U.S. Government is the World’s Largest Arms Dealer
    Forbes | March 18, 2022.
  • Don't embrace Saudi Arabia and the UAE because of the Ukraine crisis
    The Hill | March 12, 2022.
  • Support Ukraine, But Don’t Implement a No-Fly Zone
    Forbes | March 8, 2022.
  • War in Ukraine Spells Bounty for Weapons Contractors
    Inkstick | March 7, 2022.
  • Pathways to Pentagon Spending Reductions: Removing the Obstacles
    Quincy Institute | March 2, 2022.
  • Any aid package for Ukraine should focus on humanitarian assistance
    Responsible Statecraft | March 1, 2022.
  • What a Waste! $778 Billion for the Pentagon and Still Counting
    TomDispatch | February 3, 2022.
  • As Congress moves to enshrine Abraham Accords, a look at the promised ‘peace
    Responsible Statecraft | January 31, 2022.
  • US announces $2.5B arms deal on anniversary of Egypt’s Arab Spring
    Responsible Statecraft | January 26, 2022.
  • Dr. King’s 1967 anti-war speech wasn’t popular, but it was prescient
    Responsible Statecraft | January 17, 2022.
  • How Private Contractor Disguise The Real Costs of War
    Inkstick | January 12, 2022.
  • Arms sales to repressive regimes are more than just a human rights issue
    Responsible Statecraft | January 6, 2022.
  • Biden’s Arms Sales Policy In 2021: A Year of Missed Opportunities
    Forbes | January 4, 2022.
  • In Pursuit of Higher Revenues, Weapons Contractors Exaggerate Impacts of Inflation
    Forbes | 2022
  • Arming Repression: U.S. Military Support for Saudi Arabia, from Trump to Biden
    Center for International Policy | December 2021
  • The Biden Administration's Missile Sale to Saudi Arabia Is Offensive, and Must Be Stopped
    Forbes
  • The Philippines is a frontline of another cold war
    The Hill | November 27, 2021.
  • Reining in the Pentagon
    TomDispatch | November 9, 2021.
  • Congress Should Cut Off U.S. Military Support for Saudi Arabia
    Forbes | November 8, 2021.
  • The Heritage Foundation's Index of Military Distortions
    Forbes | October 28, 2021.
  • Three Years After His Murder, the Biden Administration Should Do More to Bring Justice for Jamal Khashoggi
    Forbes | October 11, 2021.
  • It's time for the US to end its involvement in the deadly Yemen war
    Inkstick | September 22, 2021.
  • Profits of War: Corporate Beneficiaries of the Post-9/11 Spending Surge
    Costs of War Project | September 12, 2021.
  • US trained Khashoggi's killers. A review of all military training programs is necessary
    CNN | August 30, 2021.
  • Afghanistan Is Just the Latest Case of U.S. Arms Ending Up With U.S. Adversaries
    Forbes | August 27, 2021.
  • Failure In Afghanistan, Over 40 Years in the Making
    Forbes | August 18, 2021.
  • If Biden can’t stand up to Saudi Arabia, then Congress should, and now
    Responsible Statecraft | July 21, 2021.
  • How Much Is Enough? Pentagon Spending and the Quest for Security
    Medium | July 14, 2021.
  • What Price 'Defense'? America's Nearly $1.3 Trillion National Security Budget Isn't Making Us Any Safer
    Tom Dispatch | June 29, 2021.
  • End Military Aid to Saudi Arabia
    The New York Times | June 24, 2021.
  • Exaggerating Challenge From China Threatens U.S. Security
    Forbes | June 22, 2021.
  • Congress should cut military aid to the Philippines
    The Hill | June 16, 2021.
  • There is still time to stop the $735 million arms sale to Israel
    Responsible Statecraft | June 9, 2021.
  • Israel’s Military, Made in the USA
    the Nation | May 21, 2021.
  • Pentagon Waste Takes Many Forms
    Forbes | May 20, 2021.
  • Executive Excess: CEO Compensation in the Arms Industry, 2020
    Center for International Policy | May 4, 2021.
  • Mixed Signals and Mixed Results Characterize Biden’s Foreign Policy at 100 Days
    The Baraza | April 29, 2021.
  • At 100 Days, Grading Biden’s Progress Toward a More Responsible US Arms Trade Policy
    Just Security | April 28, 2021.
  • Selling Arms To The UAE Is Not In U.S. Security Interests
    Forbes | April 23, 2021.
  • Muhammad bin Salman meeting with Donald Trump
    Forum on the Arms Trade | March 19, 2018.
  • Yemen War Powers Resolution
    Forum on the Arms Trade | March 6, 2018.
  • issue brief
    Arms Control Association | October 10, 2017.
  • Indefensible
    KICAU678 | January 1, 2017.
  • interview
    Democracy Now! | January 1, 2017.