Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget [Hardcover]

Tim Weiner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1990

Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles, this is a thorough, astonishing expose of the "Black Budget"--a 36-billion-dollar cache used by the Pentagon to fund its own agenda of top-secret weapons and wars.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This expanded follow-up to Weiner's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1988 Philadelphia Inquirer series exposing the Pentagon's secret treasury offers a comprehensive look at the origin and growth of this budget and the weapons and wars it has financed. Among the programs examined are the Stealth bomber (an "impossibly expensive mistake") and a satellite system called MILSTAR which is central to the plan to "win" a nuclear war that will already have been lost in the event of its activation. Weiner brings to light black-budgeted activities of a cadre of colonels, retired generals and CIA agents, a virtual hidden army within the U.S. Army that "came close to hijacking a fair amount of power" during the Reagan years. This hard-hitting expose of power out of control, immune from accountability, is well documented. It reveals how the executive office, the Pentagon and the CIA have squandered billions of dollars on useless weapons and renegade foreign policies. First serial to Rolling Stone; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this book based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles for the Philadelphia Inquirer , journalist Weiner probes the way the Pentagon has used secret budgets to fund huge military programs. This has grown to the point that there are now more than 100 multimillion- and multibillion-dollar weapons systems, many of them nuclear weapons designed to fight and win World Wars III and IV, built without the awareness of the public or even the Congress. Weiner takes a close look at programs such as the Stealth bomber and provides fascinating detail from Congressional testimony. The thesis of the book--that secrecy in government military programs is antithetical to democracy--is well documented and hugely important. As the Cold War draws to a close and military budgets come under attack, the public and Congress may tend to forget the defense establishment's inclination toward secrecy and self-perpetuation. Weiner's book serves as a timely reminder that this would be unwise. Highly recommended.
- Jennifer Scarlott, World Policy Inst., New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 273 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446514527
• ISBN-13: 978-0446514521
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Money talks! And does it have a story to tell!, March 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget (Hardcover)

Blank Check is a meticulously researched and chilling account of how the Cold War led the nation into a frenzy of spending based on fear and propaganda. The book spans 40 years of government development and National crises from the viewpoint of a checkbook. However, the fact that the book was published before the fall of the Soviet Union means that, to a modern reader, the stories told are a frightening look at times gone by rather than a relevant commentary on modern life. Also, with no central character to latch onto the book, while conscience stirring, is not necessarily compelling. That said, revelations in this book about the government's outright violation of the constitution in the name of National Security still have the ability to leave a reader appalled.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spend-Thrift Intelligence Reduces National Security, June 16, 2003

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget (Hardcover)

I know the author personally, from his time as the New York Times investigative journalist responsible for covering the US national and military intelligence programs, and I consider him one of the most balanced, thoughtful, and well-intentioned reporters in the intelligence field.

His book remains very, very important because the Pentagon is in the process of reconstituting the "Yellow Fruit" organization, with the same blank check black budget, and the same mind-sets that previously led to enormous ineffectiveness, waste, and some outright corruption and theft of government funds. Known as Gray Fox, this new incarnation of Yellow Fruit has Richard Secord, one of the leaders or the Iran-Contra scandal for which several top personalities were indicted and some convicted, as a primary player.

Tim Weiner's book is important, it is relevant, and it should be read by those responsible for the oversight of military intelligence budgets and capabilities--and by citizens who might wish to question their elected representatives on this important topic.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blank Check or American Govt ripoff., July 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget (Paperback)

I admit, I read the book about 2 years ago, but, I will remember the hard cold facts. The American public is so misinformed about how the miltary is spending our money. It is very disturbing to find out what I thought was true. Blank Check, opened my eyes a lot wider. Did you ever really think the government was honest with us and congress? Don't believe it.