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Winslow T. Wheeler
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Wheeler is the Director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information (CDI). The Straus Project and CDI are a part of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) in Washington D.C.. Wheeler has authored two books: “The Wastrels of Defense” (US Naval Institute Press) about Congress and national security, and “Military Reform” (Greenwood Publishers) on the serious, fundamental problems that currently face America’s defenses. He has also edited two anthologies on military reform: "The Pentagon Labyrinth: 10 Short Essays to Help You Through It" and “America’s Defense Meltdown.” The former contains short and informative essays to help readers understand how the Pentagon, industry and Congress actually operate on defense issues and is available for free download on the internet.

From 1971 to 2002, Wheeler worked on national security issues for members of the U.S. Senate and for the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). In the Senate, Wheeler advised Jacob K. Javits (R. NY), Nancy L. Kassebaum (R, KS), David Pryor (D, AR), and Pete V. Domenici (R, NM). He was the first, and according to Senate records the last, Senate staffer to work simultaneously on the personal staffs of a Republican and a Democrat (Pryor and Kassebaum).

In the Senate staff, Wheeler was heavily involved in legislating the War Powers Act, Pentagon reform legislation, arms control and foreign policy, and oversight of the defense budget and weapons programs.

At GAO, he directed comprehensive studies on the 1991 Gulf War air campaign, the US strategic nuclear triad, and Pentagon weapons testing. Each of these studies found prevailing conventional wisdom about weapons to be badly misinformed.

In 2002 when he worked on the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee, Wheeler authored an essay, under the pseudonym "Spartacus," addressing Congress' reaction to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks ("Mr. Smith Is Dead: No One Stands in the Way as Congress Lards Post-September 11 Defense Bills with Pork"). When senators criticized in the essay attempted to have Wheeler fired, he resigned his position.
Wheeler joined the Center for Defense Information immediately after leaving Capitol Hill.

He has periodically appeared in interviews on national TV and radio and has written articles and commentaries for national, local, and professional publications. These venues include “60 Minutes,” C-SPAN’s “Book Notes,” National Public Radio, the PBS News Hour, the Washington Post, the Politico, Mother Jones, Barron’s, Defense News, and Armed Forces Journal.
He lives with his wife, Judy, and son, Matthew, in Hagerstown, Maryland. Another son, Winslow B., lives in Florida with his wife and their three sons.

Blog Entries by Winslow T. Wheeler

The McCain and Lockheed Dots Are Connecting

(19) Comments | Posted August 3, 2012 | 3:24 PM

John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and the Lockheed-Martin Corporation have been behaving in ways that parallel each other. That could be explained by their common political objectives, or by a separate action by McCain that was only recently uncovered by some watchdogs. The time has come to start asking some questions.

All...

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Buck Mckeon's Big Job Scare Goes Bust

(7) Comments | Posted July 23, 2012 | 2:30 PM

It was probably the most ballyhooed congressional hearing on defense for the year. As the monthly economic news continued to show poor job growth, and as the elections heat up, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Cong. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), and defense contractor Lockheed-Martin saw a major...

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Defense Think Tanks Serve Up Old Wine in Dark Bottles

(3) Comments | Posted June 14, 2012 | 6:22 PM

In May, two of Washington, D.C.'s most prestigious and well-funded think tanks published reports advising Congress and the Defense Department on how, and how much, to cut the Pentagon's budget in the next round of defense budget reductions -- coming after the elections. It is highly significant that mainstream thinking...

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The Jet That Ate the Pentagon

(99) Comments | Posted May 1, 2012 | 12:17 PM

United States is making a gigantic investment in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, billed by its advocates as the next -- by their count the fifth -- generation of air-to-air and air-to-ground combat aircraft. Claimed to be near invisible to radar and able to dominate any future battlefield, the F-35...

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Descent Into Ignominy: The Heritage Foundation Then and Now

(8) Comments | Posted January 10, 2012 | 11:27 AM

Co-written by Thomas Christie, Pierre Sprey, and Chuck Spinney

Almost 30 years ago, in 1983, The Heritage Foundation stepped forward as a thoughtful, independent thinking participant in the then-raging debate over Ronald Reagan's defense budget increases. In one of its major policy publications, Heritage published an insightful analysis with...

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Panetta's Frenzied Rhetoric Is Not Stopping the Decay of U.S. Forces

(1) Comments | Posted October 14, 2011 | 12:21 PM

Before Tuesday this week, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had been sprinkling Washington D.C. with words like "doomsday mechanism," "catastrophic," and "shooting ourselves in the head" to describe any cuts in the Pentagon's budget beyond the $450 billion over 10 years (overall...

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The Stench of Elitism in the Defense Budget

(15) Comments | Posted September 29, 2011 | 12:44 PM

The stench of elitism is permeating Washington, just as it did a decade ago when everyone of consequence bought the proposition that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction -- and even if there was room for doubt, he was a threat and "had to go." Today, the subject matter...

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Chitchat With Leon and Hillary on the Defense Budget

(14) Comments | Posted August 19, 2011 | 3:17 PM

The invitation came to me from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's Public Affairs Office to attend a "conversation" with Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the prestigious National War College in Washington. Although I knew it wasn't me they wanted to talk to, I sat in the audience...

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Secretary Panetta and the Doomsday Mechanism

(3) Comments | Posted August 10, 2011 | 1:47 PM

The rhetoric of people rushing to rescue Pentagon spending from "completely unacceptable" cuts is quite hysterical. Leading the chorus has been Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. He termed the possible defense budget cuts (about $850 billion over 10 years according to most) a "doomsday mechanism," if the automatic sequestration trigger...

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What Is Gates? Who Is Panetta?

(0) Comments | Posted June 21, 2011 | 3:52 PM

Robert Gates has been called the best secretary of defense in recent memory. On the other hand, he has a reputation with some as a slick career bureaucrat with a knack for avoiding blame but pocketing credit. Both are true.

"Best in recent memory?" It would have been hard for...

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Did Robert Gates Terminate 30 DOD Hardware Programs, Saving $300 Billion?

(107) Comments | Posted June 4, 2011 | 12:38 PM

For months I have been reading in the press about Robert Gates cancelling more than 30 [defense hardware] programs. A May 24 Bloomberg article by Viola Gienger ("Gates Says Military Cuts May Protect F-35, Submarines") came up quick on a Google search. Other articles credit Gates...

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Beware the Fine Print in the Obama Deficit Commission Report

(7) Comments | Posted November 30, 2010 | 9:35 AM

Based on my experience at the Senate Budget Committee, I learned that reading different deficit reduction plans can be tricky. Some use CBO or other "baselines" as a basis for comparison, but those baselines can be a mystery to some and differ -- sometimes by huge amounts -- from more...

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Memo to Tea Party Senators

(9) Comments | Posted November 29, 2010 | 9:35 AM

Memorandum

To: Senators-elect Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Kentucky), Marco Rubio (Florida), and Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania)

From: Winslow Wheeler and Sanford Gottlieb, Center for Defense Information, Washington, D.C.

Subject: The Pentagon Budget


Welcome to Washington. This town is eager to learn how you will pursue...

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Letter to Obama Deficit Commission: Make Pentagon Accountable

(5) Comments | Posted November 19, 2010 | 8:38 AM

Below find a sample of letters mailed earlier this week to each member of President Obama's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (the Deficit Commission).

The letter addresses the defense budget. It is significantly different from all but one of the major defense budget proposals and...

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Letter to Obama Deficit Commission: Make the Pentagon Accountable

(2) Comments | Posted November 19, 2010 | 8:11 AM

Below find a sample of letters mailed earlier this week to each member of the President Obama's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (the Deficit Commission).

The letter addresses the defense budget. It is significantly different from all but one of the major defense budget proposals...

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Is There an Alternative to Phony Defense Savings?

(12) Comments | Posted October 26, 2010 | 2:26 PM

Despite challenges from the money heaving right, there is an emerging consensus that the Pentagon budget, now at post-World War II highs, will soon go south. The Pentagon is trying to avoid those budget cuts; it's device is to pretend reform with insignificant reductions in weapons programs, but not the...

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Tea Party Nightmare: The Defense Budget

(6) Comments | Posted October 13, 2010 | 10:09 AM

For the last two weeks, the advocates of higher defense spending have shown their nervousness that the times may be changing -- that the defense budget may go south after the elections. Organizations like AEI, the Heritage Foundation, and William Kristol's various interlocked organizations have written about the dire consequences...

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The Pentagon Owes the United States $1 Trillion

(26) Comments | Posted September 1, 2010 | 9:51 AM

From 1999 to 2010 the Pentagon's managers squandered $1 Trillion. In the next ten years, it should be returned to the Treasury.

In 1998, the Pentagon budget was at a twenty three year low at $361 billion. For 2010, the DOD budget was $697 billion (all dollars in this piece...

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More Swill From the Pentagon Budget Busters

(9) Comments | Posted August 5, 2010 | 9:43 AM

Once again, the miscreant uncle crashed the family Lexus and was charged with reckless driving. His response to the judge when told he needed to learn self-control? "I want a Ferrari."

The analogy can go on (the family couldn't afford the Lexus; it was in bad need of a complete...

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General Petraeus and His Senate Vassals

(19) Comments | Posted June 24, 2010 | 4:00 PM

Whatever you may think of General Stanley McChrystal and his succession by General David Petraeus, something very sad is about to happen. The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) has already scheduled its hearing for the constitutionally required confirmation of General Petraeus in his new job. Watch that hearing. (It will...

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