e iron-triangle of the Military Industrial Comp

e iron-triangle of the Military Industrial Comp

 Congress
House National Security and Senate Foreign Relations
Committees
Armed Services Committees; Defense Appropriations
Committee
Subcommittees
Joint Committee on Defense Production
Joint Economic Committee
Government Operations Committee
House and Senate members from districts/states with
interest in the defense industry

Executive Agencies
Department of State- the executive department in charge
with the foreign affairs and foreign policy of USA
Department of Defense- the executive department based
on Pentagon that is in charge of USA's national security
and the United States' Armed Forces. It has three
subordinate departments the United States Department of
the Army, the United States Department of the Navy, and
the United States Department of the Air Force.It is the
largest employer in the world with 2.8 million employees,
composed of active service men and women, reservists
and civilian employees, as of 2015.

What is the difference between the

Department of Defense and Department
of Homeland Security?
Department of Defense- in charge of national security of USA and the
United States Armed Forces
Department of Homeland Security-in charge of antiterrorism, border
security, immigration and customs, cybersecurity, and disaster
prevention and management. It is tasked to in the civilian sphere to
protect the United States within, at, and outside its borders
particularly terrorism

Posse Comitatus Act or the Knott

Amendment
This act limits the capacity of the federal government to use the
USA army to enforce law within it's borders, save only for some
limited instances provided by law of Congress or the Constitution

Defense Contractors
Lockheed Martin
One of the most prominent defense contractors in USA. In
2013, 78% of Lockheed Martin's revenues came from military
sales;[4] it topped the list of US federal government
contractors and received nearly 10% of the funds paid out by
the Pentagon.

How the Military Industrial Complex

work?
The Congress approves and virtually dictates the budget of the
federal government, like in defense matters. Specifically the House
National Security Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations
committee, with the occasional House or Senate Member from districts
or states with interest in the defense/arms industry. In the executive
branch, it is the DOD and the DOS that is relevant to the militaryindustrial complex, as it is the DOS that shapes foreign policy and it is
the DOD that handles the military where most of the budget for
defense goes. The DOD meanwhile engages with the Defense
Manufacturer Sector which produces arms and technology for the
army, in which they gain profit. These Defense Manufacturers then
somehow influence the relevant Congress committees that gives

Two most prominent periods of American Foreign

policy where the Military Industrial Complex was
prominent
1.

Containment-the Cold War period where the main idea

was to contain and counter Soviet influence through arms

accumulation to contain and deter Soviet influence, thus the need for
massive amount of arms and defense technology. This produced the
phenomenon known as MAD.

2.War on terror-

or the concept of "preventive war" where

the USA pursued war in Iraq and Afghanistan against "terrorists" to
prevent them from harming USA further after the 9/11 attacks. This has

Criticisms of the MilitaryIndustrial Complex

Noam Chomsky-

noted that the military industrial complex is a

misnomer, as he said that there is always a collusion between the
government and big industries, and in this case, the big industries are
just hiding behind the defense and arms manufacturing. Another
criticism, is that if the theory is true, then there would be a linear
growth in arms expenditure, but history tells otherwise. There has
been a fluctuation in arms expenditure betwen the Cold War period up
to the "War on Terror" by Bush. It has been said that military
expenditure is based also on the international context and the
perception of "national interest".

Example:
201014, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that the
United States was the world's largest exporter of major arms, accounting for 31 per
cent of global shares. The United States was also the world's eighth largest importer
of major weapons for the same period