Pentagon Went on $5 Billion Shopping Spree Ahead of Shutdown

Officials Play Up Shutdown 'Risks'

Officials continue to play up the national security “risks” of the government shutdown, claiming it risks their efforts to shore up security at embassies and closing key training facilities.

But they got their robot submarines.

On Monday evening, just hours ahead of the shutdown, the Pentagon went shopping for real, dumping some $5 billion in cash into the bank accounts of various military contractors to buy up everything imaginable before the shutdown took effect.

Cameras, Reaper drones, robotic submarines, even a television studio and $19 million worth of cots, the military saw the writing on the wall: spending was going to be curbed, and they were getting their money’s worth beforehand.

The Pentagon’s splurge reflects the ample time departments had to anticipate the shutdown, and take advantage of everything they could beforehand.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.