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Hi,
Despite much-ballyhooed promises to cut government spending, the newly inaugurated Trump administration has given little indication it plans to apply that anti-waste zeal to the largest recipient of the federal discretionary budget: the Pentagon and its contractors.
The defense budget, already slated to be $895.2 billion in 2025, is steadily marching toward the eye-watering $1 trillion mark. Both Trump-allied allied lawmakers in a Republican-controlled Congress and Trump’s own nominees seem on board with that. Earlier this month, during a hearing that largely focused on Fox News host-turned defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth’s drinking, sexual assault allegations, and scant managerial experience, the nominee had an exchange with spending hawk Roger Wicker, a senator from Mississippi, that evidenced the soon-to-be Pentagon chief’s commitment to protecting the his department’s budget from cuts:
Wicker: And you have noted correctly that the current trend line of defense spending falling below 3% of our GDP is a threat to national security. You also said building the strongest and most powerful military in the world must be done responsibly, but it cannot be done on the cheap.
You still agree with that, do you not?
Hegseth: Yes, sir, I do. … Going under 3%, Mr. Chairman, is very dangerous.
On this beat, we cover the people and places tied up in this defining feature of American life, a military budget that is larger than the next nine countries [ [link removed] ]combined [ [link removed] ]. Wicker’s own spending hawkishness underscores the parochial politics that are behind much of Congressional support for that budget. His state is the poorest in the entire nation — and also one of the most economically dependent on weapons and military spending, ranking fifth nationwide [ [link removed] ] by how much of its GDP is reliant on an injection of Pentagon spending.
Will the coming military buildup create, in places like Mississippi, “good manufacturing jobs and good wages,” like the Trump administration claimed [ [link removed] ] last time around?
Well, here’s [ [link removed] ] the numbers. Read on at inkstickmedia.com, What a Looming $1 Trillion Pentagon Budget Means for Jobs [ [link removed] ].
Nell Srinath/ Inkstick Media
Extra
Northrop Grumman in Utah
Our exposé on worker deaths at a Northrop Grumman missile plant — and how the defense contractor skirted the worst penalties it could have faced for workplace safety violations — was on the cover of the Salt Lake City Weekly.
I also discussed [ [link removed] ] the story on Salt Lake City’s KRCL radio, an interview which happened to coincide with the announcement of a ceasefire being reached between Israel and Hamas. That led us to a discussion of a crucial material (matériel) connection between Utah and the genocide – Northrop Grumman makes parts for the F-35, which Israel has used to bomb Gaza, in a Clearfield facility it acquired [ [link removed] ] from Orbital ATK.
Plowshares at Lockheed Martin
I've noticed two recent real-world examples of "swords into plowshares" regarding the C-130, a military cargo plane manufactured by Lockheed Martin here in the Atlanta suburbs. First, for use in firefighting [ [link removed] ] during the Los Angeles fires. Second, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is buying the aircraft for use as “hurricane hunters” [ [link removed] ] and flying laboratories that will perform storm reconnaissance.
What else does the C-130 do? A lot — like deliver equipment to the Israeli military in Gaza during the genocide or evacuate people from Kabul when the Taliban retook the city during the US pullout.
Readers may remember Air Force veteran Christian Sorensen’s map [ [link removed] ], suppressed by Google, of arms plants across the country and their potential civilian use. Lockheed itself is now furnishing more real-world entries to Sorensen’s project.
Local lobbyists – send me your tips!
As one does, I was recently browsing Lobbyist.Utah.Gov and noticed that Northrop Grumman’s newest registered lobbyist [ [link removed] ] for the state also happens to be an ex-employee of the state economic development agency that we at Inkstick have two public records lawsuits [ [link removed] ] against – for refusing to release records on its subsidies to Northrop Grumman.
Readers may also remember that Lockheed Martin has eight registered lobbyists [ [link removed] ] here in Georgia, quite an army for the new democratic socialist [ [link removed] ] who represents the plant’s district to be up against.
Send me your story ideas and tips on local defense industry lobbyists — it’s something I plan to delve more into this year. Email me at [email protected] [ mailto:[email protected] ], or Signal at tkbarnes.10
Taylor

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