Chapter 227 of the Vietnam Veterans of America hosted Molly Sinclair McCartney at its membership meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15, where she gave an overview of America’s military-industrial complex that was born during the Cold War. She and her late husband and wounded World War II veteran, Jim McCartney, wrote America’s War Machine: Vested Interests, Endless Conflicts on the subject.

On January 17, 1961 in his farewell speech, President Dwight Eisenhower warned of the dangers of the rising military-industrial complex, which thrives on three elements: Congress’ enthusiastic defense spending for campaign contributions and voter support from the job creation, the intelligence bureaucracy that provides the data for the policymakers to justify military actions and weapon programs and the partisan think tanks that provide the rationale for militarized policies that lead to growing military interventions and wars.

Additionally, the news media is a supporting actor in the process by not fully questioning the wisdom of such spending. A question and answer session following her overview resulted in a lively discussion on the topic.