Greetings,

I hope this finds you very well.

I write with five exciting NPP updates highlighted below. You can either click on individual updates or scroll down for more information.

1. NPP hires Chris Hellman as our new Director of Research
2. NPP completes the first step to creating a Spanish language section of our website as part of an overarching plan to increase our networking and training capacity
3. NPP's latest cost of war numbers are available on the website along with associated local numbers and trade-offs
4. NPP's Security Spending Primer is due for release this September
5. In partnership with the primer, Greg Speeter is working with a team of NPP research staff and summer fellows to complete our first webinar – stay tuned for invitations to participate

This fall, NPP staff and board will embark on a strategic planning process, the goal of which will be to sharpen NPP's work to meet the social change challenges – and promise – of this moment in history. Also this fall, Research and IT staff will refine the 8.5 million-point-strong NPP database and web interface to maximize its incredible potential as an educational and advocacy tool for people across our nation.

I look forward to remaining in touch with you and wish you the very best in the days ahead.

Yours,
Jo Comerford
Executive Director

1. NPP hires Christopher Hellman as our new Director of Research<

Chris Hellman will join the NPP staff as Director of Research on August 3, 2009. Prior to NPP, Chris focused on U.S. military policy at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, D.C., beginning there in 2003.

As an analyst, his expertise covers a broad range of issues related to U.S. military spending, including military planning and policy, U.S. military bases and base closures, major Pentagon weapons systems, trends in the defense industry, global military spending, homeland security and U.S. foreign policy. As a staffer on Capitol Hill Chris developed a thorough knowledge of the legislative process and congressional-government relations.

Prior to joining the Center, Chris spent more than six years as Senior Research Analyst at the Center for Defense Information, covering similar matters related to the military budget. He also worked for two years as a Policy Analyst for Physicians for Social Responsibility as a military budget specialist. Beginning in 1984, Chris spent ten years on Capitol Hill as a staffer working on national security and foreign policy issues, and is familiar with all aspects of the congressional legislative and budget processes.

Chris is a frequent media commentator on military planning, policy and budgetary issues, including all major television, radio and print outlets in the United States and overseas. He is also a regular lecturer to academic audiences, industry representatives and policy makers, and is the author of numerous reports and articles and has conducted briefings for members of Congress and congressional staffers, as well as providing congressional testimony.

Back to top

2. NPP completes the first step to creating a Spanish language section of our website by translating eight of the most recent reports 

Thanks to the work of NPP's newest initiative, Networking and Training, NPP is now in regular contact with more than 80 organizations across our nation led by People of Color. Associate Director Juan Carlos Aguilar continues to strengthen our internal capacity to reach new constituencies unfamiliar with NPP's tools. As part of this effort, he created a Spanish section on our website. This summer staff will also contact select Spanish speaking media (radio stations, newspapers and blogs) to introduce NPP's work and invite future conversations.

Back to top

3. NPP's latest cost of war numbers are available on the website along with associated local numbers and trade-offs

Cost of War through September 30, 2009
$687 billion for Iraq
$228 billion for Afghanistan

Congress has appropriated another $84.8 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the remainder of the 2009 fiscal year ending September 30, 2009. The Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, signed into law by President Obama on June 24, 2009, allocates $45.5 billion for war-related actions in Iraq and $39.4 billion to Afghanistan[1] [2].

 These new appropriations bring total war-related spending for Iraq to $687 billion and for Afghanistan to $228 billion, with a total war cost of $915.1 billion[3]. NPP updated its Cost of War counters to reflect the new totals and to show the local costs of these wars to states and many cities. NPP's trade-off tool allows you to explore what services could be obtained for your community with the same amount of money that Congress has appropriated for war spending.

No matter how we slice the numbers, we must consider that each dollar spent to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is a dollar not spent to further some other endeavor. For example, Massachusetts taxpayers will contribute well over $2 billion toward the total cost of this supplemental. For the same amount of money, legislators could provide four years of healthcare for 95,000 people, send 56,000 students to four years of college or cut Massachusetts's state deficit in half.

President Obama's FY 2010 budget calls for an additional $130 billion in war spending, meaning that the U.S. will likely reach the $1 trillion marker by next spring.

[1] Of the Congress approved supplemental spending, NPP analyses show that $84.8 billion is for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This includes Department of Defense provisions including Military Personnel, Operations & Maintenance, Procurement, and Military Construction; Department of State provisions including Diplomatic and Consular Programs and Economic Support; and Department of Justice provisions.

[2] Previous NPP analyses have attributed 80% unspecified war funding to operations in Iraq and 20% to operations in Afghanistan. In light of the troop level reductions announced thus far for Iraq and increases announced for Afghanistan in 2009, we have made new estimates of approximately 58% unspecified funding to Iraq and 42% to Afghanistan.

[3] Total war funding to date includes all approved funds for Afghanistan since FY2001 plus all approved funds for Iraq since FY2003. See CRS Report RL33110 May 2009.

Back to top

4. NPP's Security Spending Primer is due for release this September

The Security Spending Primer is a series of 16 two-page fact sheets focused on U.S. military spending. This NPP release will address questions, fears and mis-information about military spending head-on with the goal of achieving a real military decrease for the first time in decades. U.S. military and war spending will reach $704 billion in FY2010 – increasing each year – unless Americans issue a sound and strategic call to spend less in the service of making us all more secure. Guest authors include: Miriam Pemberton (Institute for Policy Studies), Frida Berrigan (New America Foundation), Bob Pollin (Political Economy Research Institute), Susan Schaer (Women's Action for New Directions) and Ruth Flower (Friends Committee on National Legislation).

Back to top

 

5. In partnership with the Primer, Greg Speeter is working with a team of NPP research staff and summer fellows to complete our first webinar

NPP Founder, Greg Speeter, is putting the finishing touches on our first webinar, debuting this September as a partner to the Primer. The webinar will teach people how to use the primer, while placing current efforts within a historic context, making strategic links between myriad issues and localizing the effects of continual increases in military spending. Look for webinar invitations this fall.

Back to top