Exactly, everybody misunderstands this. Eisenhower realized that we were crossing a threshold where the US would need a specialized military industry and equip

Exactly, everybody misunderstands this. Eisenhower realized that we were crossing a threshold where the US would need a specialized military industry and equipment stockpiles, where you couldn't just mobilize and convert civilian production to military production over the course of 2-3 years anymore like we did in WWII. Should war with the USSR break out, things were going to move too fast for that to be viable, and you simply couldn't take your eye off the ball with respect to developing new technologies either. The military industrial complex during the Cold War is like the tech giants in the 2010s. Everybody understands their importance, and yet you still have to be vigilant about letting them leverage that into too much political power. That's the point he was trying to get across. The MIC would be highly necessary, but vigilance was required to avoid letting their interests push the government around.