Since the end of the Cold War, there has been broad agreement among many national security experts that the military could be safely cut by 40 to 80% in five to ten years³. Yet the military budget has remained quite high by historical standards and is projected to still be comparable to Cold War spending levels in the year 2001. After World War II, with detailed planning for conversion in place, the defense economy was drastically reduced in just two years. The cuts in the military budget in the last few years have caused job losses and community dislocation because there is no plan for integrating these workers and plants into the civilian economy. Many groups in the US are working to convert military facilities to civilian purposes, but so far there is no coherent federal support for these efforts.

The US is still spending over $270 billion a year for Pentagon programs, but the total spent on the military includes military aid, veterans benefits, part of the NASA budget, and one-half of the interest on the debt that can be attributed to past military spending⁴. This brings the total to over $450 billion for FY95.

The continuing high military spending is based on a totally unrealistic assessment of threats to the US. In 1990, Colin Powell lamented "I'm running out of demons. I'm running out of villains." The "potential adversaries" identified in Pentagon reviews are Iraq, China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Libya. The US is spending ten times the combined spending of all of them. In addition, the US still forks over tens of billions of dollars a year to "defend" Western Europe against a non-existent Soviet Union.

Pentagon planners want to be able to fight two wars in developing countries simultaneously, imaginary scenarios that enable the military contractors and armed forces to keep tax dollars flowing. These same contractors are now busy selling weapons abroad at an unprecedented rate, thereby increasing the chance of violence and civil wars.

A combination of de-militarization, conversion, development of peacekeeping infrastructure, and increased international cooperation would make a large military unnecessary. Conversion, peacekeeping, and dismantling nuclear weapons are examples of parts of the military budget that should be increasing but are being cut back.

We can reach a 50% reduction in military expenditures over the next five years. That would free up over $350 billion for investments in rebuilding America. Below are examples of how $350 billion worth of savings could be found in the military budget: