Military industry-backed lawmakers more likely to support police militarization program

Speaking Security Newsletter | Advisory Note for Organizers and Candidates, n°76 | 8 April 2021

You can support this newsletter here and SPRI, here.

Context

Rep. Johnson and 28 other House members asked Biden to issue an executive order that prohibits military gear from being transferred to police through the Pentagon’s 1033 program. A solid write-up on this week’s action, here:

Common Dreams @commondreams

"It is absurd that the Pentagon has so much funding they can send their 'excess' weaponry to police departments around the country. We need to demilitarize our police and defund the Pentagon now."

cdreams.newsDozens of House Dems and Progressive Groups Push Biden to Curb Militarization of Police“It is absurd that the Pentagon has so much funding they can send their ‘excess’ weaponry to police departments around the country. We need to demilitarize our police and defund the Pentagon now.”

Why I did this study

The 1033 program inflates both police and Pentagon spending. Although the military equipment is ostensibly free, police still have to ask state/local government to cover the costs related to shipping, mandatory training, operation and maintenance, and, eventually, the additional wrongful death lawsuits that come about because having/using combat gear makes police more violent.

It inflates Pentagon budgets too because the more stuff DOD can purge from its existing stocks, the more it can say it needs (in its budget requests to Congress). By extension, military contractors also have a parochial interest in maintaining/expanding the 1033 program because shrinking Pentagon budgets affect the war industry’s bottom line.

Marianne Williamson captures that dynamic here in a RT of my article in Jacobin. Her analysis helps explain why over a third of the military gear police receive through the 1033 program is brand new:

Marianne Williamson @marwilliamson

Military contractors sell the newest equipment to the military and say “Send the older model to the boys back home.” That’s the commercial source of the militarization of our police departments. @POTUS STOP IT NOW!!

Jacobin @jacobinmag

American police departments are armed to the teeth with military-grade weaponry like Humvees and assault rifles. Nothing is stopping President Biden from shutting down this military-to-police pipeline right away. https://t.co/xbeMpa7RJL

Political donations from military contractors and support for progressive action on police militarization, a comparison

Even if you control for Republican shitheadedness (none signed on to Johnson’s letter), the correlation’s still there when looking only at Democrats, too:

Thanks for your time,

Stephen (@stephensemler; stephen@securityreform.org)

Find this note useful? Please consider becoming a supporter of SPRI. Unlike establishment think tanks, we rely exclusively on small donations.