A Resource hub for those working to
dismantle the
Military Industrial Complex
Resource Hub
Find videos, data, infographics, educational tools, guidance about messaging, narrative development, and language use, and much more to learn about and support your work related to the Military Industrial Complex and its many impacts.
Need to research something about the Military Industrial Complex? We can try to connect you with a researcher who can investigate aspects of the Military Industrial Complex and its component parts including the military, Pentagon contractors, Congress, spy agencies, media, academia, think tanks, lobbyists, and Hollywood.
Find people who can speak about the Military Industrial Complex and related topics of war, military spending, anti-war organizing, domestic militarization, the links between global warming/climate change and the MIC, and much more. Find allied organizations here.
Commonly Cited US Military Spending FY2024 (excluding VA & Other Spending): $997,000,000,000 ($997 Billion)
•
Real Total US Military Spending FY2024: $1,700,000,000,000 ($1.7 Trillion)
•
Percentage of Pentagon Budget Going to Contractors: 54
•
Minimum Estimated Cost of US "war on terror": $8,000,000,000,000 ($8 Trillion)
•
Number of US military bases abroad: 750-800
•
Top 5 Pentagon Contractors: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon (RTX), Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrup Grumman
•
Commonly Cited US Military Spending FY2024 (excluding VA & Other Spending): $997,000,000,000 ($997 Billion) • Real Total US Military Spending FY2024: $1,700,000,000,000 ($1.7 Trillion) • Percentage of Pentagon Budget Going to Contractors: 54 • Minimum Estimated Cost of US "war on terror": $8,000,000,000,000 ($8 Trillion) • Number of US military bases abroad: 750-800 • Top 5 Pentagon Contractors: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon (RTX), Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrup Grumman •
See below for sources.
The Military Industrial Complex Visualized
“we must guard against
the acquisition of
unwarranted influence … by the
military-industrial complex.”
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Farewell Address,” 1961”
“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing
of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Farewell Address,” 1961
Eisenhower’s
Farewell Address on the
Military Industrial Complex
Short Clip
Full Speech
Sources for Statistics in scrolling ticker above
Commonly Cited US Military Spending FY2024: $997,000,000,000 ($997 Billion)
SIPRI, “Unprecedented rise in global military expenditure as European and Middle East spending surges,” April 28, 2025, https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2025/unprecedented-rise-global-military-expenditure-european-and-middle-east-spending-surges.
Real Total US Military Spending FY2024: $1,700,000,000,000 ($1.7 Trillion)
David Vine, calculations available at Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/p/DJRgj_cpjws/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==.
Percentage of Pentagon Budget Going to Contractors: 54
Across 2020–2024. William D. Hartung and Stephen Semler, “Profits of War: Top Beneficiaries of Pentagon Spending, 2020 – 2024,” Quincy Brief #79, Quincy Institute, July 8, 2025, https://quincyinst.org/research/profits-of-war-top-beneficiaries-of-pentagon-spending-2020-2024.
Minimum Estimated Cost of US “War on Terror”: $8,000,000,000,000 ($8 Trillion)
Costs of War Project, “Estimate of U.S. Post-9/11 War Spending,” June 2025, https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/economic/budget.
Number of US Military Bases Abroad: 750–800
Overseas Base Realignment and Closure Coalition, Fact Sheet, https://www.overseasbases.net/fact-sheet.html. Drawing on David Vine, Patterson Deppen, and Leah Bolger, “Drawdown: Improving U.S. and Global Security Through Military Base Closures Abroad,” Quincy Brief #16, Quincy Institute/World Beyond War, September 20, 2021, https://quincyinst.org/report/drawdown-improving-u-s-and-global-security-through-military-base-closures-abroad/.
Top 5 Pentagon Contractors
Across 2020–2024. Hartung and Semler, “Profits of War.”
Get Involved
Find ways to connect and get involved in the work to dismantle the military industrial complex.