Franks, asked whether the country could afford it, replied: “What is national security worth? It’s priceless.” So let's see, Congressman Franks, if you really

Franks, asked whether the country could afford it, replied: “What is national security worth? It’s priceless.” So let's see, Congressman Franks, if you really believe that security is priceless. Do you wear a Kevlar vest at all times? Ride only in an armored Maybach? Keep a dozen bodyguards at your home? Line the walls of your house with depleted uranium? Scan every object entering your house with a T-wave explosives detector and a Geiger counter? Of course not. Security is not "priceless"; it is subject to cost/benefit analysis like everything else. I can do no better at this point than to quote President Dwight Eisenhower: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. [0] In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. [1] I think it's a safe bet that the big defense contractors like Lockheed Martin have been lobbying for a resumption of Star Wars ever since the Reagan years. Looks like they finally found a moment when we were all thinking about other things. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_for_Peace_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_for_Peace_speech [1] http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm