Episode 707: Reforming the Pentagon for the 21st Century

Newt discusses the Pentagon, its history, and the challenges it faces in modernizing for the 21st century. The Pentagon, built between 1941 and 1943, is the second largest office building in the world and has 27,000 military and civilian employees. The Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2024 provided $825 billion in total funding. Newt’s guest, William Hartung, a Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, discusses the influence of large contractors on defense policy and the need for strategic thinking and reform in the defense system. They also discuss the rise of artificial intelligence and the increasing role of Silicon Valley in defense technology.

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