Ep. 117: The Always 'Lagging' U.S. War Machine

Hello everyone,

Citations Needed is back for Season 4! And apologies for this morning's post which didn't have audio attached. This one is fixed. Hope you enjoy.

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"U.S. military tactics falling behind those of adversaries, Pentagon official warns," The Guardian proclaims. "Russian Propaganda Is Pervasive, and America Is Behind the Power Curve in Countering It," reads a report from the RAND Corporation. "U.S. falling behind in new space race, says CIA's former head of science and tech," cautions CBS News. 

U.S. media consistently characterize the United States – a country with nearly 800 military bases worldwide and an ever-climbing annual defense budget that's already more than a trillion dollars – as the world's eternal underdog. Somehow, the United States military is always "lagging" or "falling behind" perennial enemies Russia, China and evil Muslim terrorists in everything from nuclear weapons, PSYOPs, Internet security and surveillance, Arctic ice cutters, intercontinental ballistic missiles, deadly drones, dominating outer space, and the always reliable, vague notion of "military readiness."

The scam is perpetrated via a Congressional-Military-Industrial Complex feedback loop. It typically goes something like this: a weapons contractor and military-funded think tank published a supposedly neutral "report" or a handful of current and former "U.S. officials" run to a media outlet insisting the United States is "lagging behind" in a sector that incidentally coincides with said think tank's funders or government entity's interests. Credulous American media mindlessly repeats the claims, everyone acts panicked, treating the warning like a work of good faith, sober and objective analysis. Congress then reacts and uses media coverage to rationalize even more contracts to the very funders of the think tank that raised the warning, further bloating the Pentagon, State Department and  CIA budgets. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, all the while portraying the U.S.'s gargantuan defense expenditures as paltry and insufficient.

On this episode - our Season 4 premiere - we parse the trope of the always “lagging” United States, who pushes and funds it, who benefits from it and ask why the inverse question – "what if the U.S. is too powerful and dominant over the rest of the world" – is never broached by American media, much less honestly discussed or debated. 

Our guest is FAIR's Jim Naureckas.

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Guest

Jim Naureckas is the editor of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's website FAIR.org and has edited FAIR's print publication Extra! since 1990.

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Show Notes

The Missile Gap Myth and Its Progeny

Greg Thielmann | May 2011 | Arms Control Association

Pentagon: U.S. Is Falling Behind Russia in Global Influence

Matt Stieb | July 1, 2019 | Intelligencer

US Leads World in Credulous Reports of ‘Lagging Behind’ Russia 

Adam Johnson | September 1, 2015 | FAIR

Obama to Call for More Icebreakers in Arctic as U.S. Seeks Foothold

Julie Hirschfeld Davis | September 1, 2015 | The New York Times

Of myths and missiles: the truth about John F. Kennedy and the Missile Gap

Dwayne A. Day | January 3, 2006 | The Space Review

For NYT, a Trillion Dollars’ Worth of A-Bombs Is ‘Little’ Response to Russia

Adam Johnson | March 7, 2018 | FAIR

The 14-Minute ‘60 Minutes’ Infomercial for Cold War

Adam Johnson | September 29, 2016 | The Nation

Risk of nuclear attack rises

60 Minutes | September 25, 2016 | CBS News

Reporting on Russia’s Troll Army, Western Media Forget West’s Much Bigger, Sophisticated Troll Army 

Adam Johnson | April 15, 2015 | FAIR

US military tactics falling behind those of adversaries, Pentagon official warns

Spencer Ackerman | April 8, 2015 | The Guardian

NATO commander: West must fight Russia in information ‘war’

March 22, 2015 | AP

U.S. falling behind in new space race, says CIA's former head of science and tech

Olivia Gazis | December 12, 2018 | CBS News

Anatomy of a talking point: the smallest Navy since 1917

Louis Jacobson | August 3, 2015 | PolitiFact

If Anything, America’s Defense Budget Is Too Small

Jon Kyl and Roger Zakheim | January 15, 2019 | Politico

Special Report: U.S. rearms to nullify China's missile supremacy

David Lague | May 6, 2020 | Reuters

Corporate Media Setting Stage for New Cold War With China

Gregory Shupak | May 15, 2020 | FAIR

Reconnaissance Memorandum [PDF]

Allen Dulles | November  24,1954 | CIA

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here.

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