ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The United States and its allies are considering an attack against Syria's government. Such an attack is limited only by the people, aircraft, ships, and vehicles available in the area, so when the U.S. Navy moves more ships into the eastern Mediterranean, it starts to look a little like war. This infographic, by Farwa Rizwan at Al Arabiya English , looks at the military maneuvers already underway. France and the U.S., with Turkish and UK airbases serving as a staging point, are the nations most likely to act against Syria's government. Until yesterday, when this map was published, the United Kingdom looked ready to intervene, but then its Parliament voted against intervention . I've left every reference to British military assets on the map intact here, but it's unlikely now that the UK will play a direct role. All these countries are allies as part of NATO. Here is what they could bring to an intervention: Runways and Airplanes It's hard to conduc...

President Eisenhower warned of the rise of the military industrial complex in his  1961 farewell address . It's impossible to know for sure if he was thinking of companies like these, selling about $235 billion in arms every year, but it's possible. Making weapons has become a U.S. specialty, with 47 American companies filling the top 100 grossing slots in the world .   The following numbers are put together by  SIPRI based on numbers from 2010 , rank in terms of sales, and offer an unbiased view of how big a business war has become. #25 CACI International flikr/GovWin a Deltek Network Global satellite communications equipment supports military intelligence. Arms sales:  $2.3 billion Total profit:  $107 million Employees:  13,100 people While  CACI International  doesn't make weapons, they supply the U.S. Army with an information lifeline. The  TROJAN  satellite communication systems provide the Army ...

The business of war is profitable. In 2011, the 100 largest contractors sold $410 billion in arms and military services. Just 10 of those companies sold over $208 billion. Based on a list of the top 100 arms-producing and military services companies in 2011 compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 companies with the most military sales worldwide. These companies have benefited tremendously from the growth in military spending in the U.S., which by far has the largest military budget in the world. In 2000, the U.S. defense budget was approximately $312 billion. By 2011, the figure had grown to $712 billion. Arm sales grew alongside general defense spending growth. SIPRI noted that between 2002 and 2011, arms sales among the top 100 companies grew by 51%. However, the trend has recently reversed. In 2011, the top 100 arms dealers sold 5% less compared to 2010. Susan Jackson, a SIPRI defense expert, said in an email to 24/7 Wa...

The OMB (Office of Management and Budget) has a page on their site that is devoted to the publishing of historical data (link below). There is all sorts of data published on the site - total government expenditures over the years, GDP over the years, etc. For this article, we are going to be looking at two tables of data: Table 4.1 - Outlays by Agency (1962-2015) Table 4.2 - Percentage Distribution of Outlays by Agency (1962-2015) What do they two tables tell us? Well, they show how much each agency in the government (such as Labor, Commerce, etc) spent per year from 1962 until present day, and they also show us each agency's spending at a total % of agency outlays. This can reveal interesting trends over the years. For this article, we are going to focus on the country's Military spending from 1962 until 2010. In addition, we'll also include the government's projections for military spending from 2011 to 2015. We will list four pieces of data (in regards to military sp...